


Battle of the Bands

by WishIWasFeliciaDay



Series: Battle of the Bands [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Punk, Band Fic, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Falling In Love, Getting Together, Kinda, Long-Haired Victor Nikiforov, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Tattooed Katsuki Yuuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-01
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:53:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26171503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishIWasFeliciaDay/pseuds/WishIWasFeliciaDay
Summary: Yuuri Katsuki has wanted to join Battle of the Bands since before he started college at NYU. Now, he finally has a band to do it with. Only thing is, he is going up against his all time favorite band who's lead singer is his crushViktor Nikiforov is kind of tired of the same people being in Battle of the Bands every year. It doesn't make winning exciting anymore. That is, until he sees a new band join the roster. Only to find out the lead singer is the same boy he's had a crush on for over a year.These boys better work out their feelings before their bandmates hit them with their instruments.! ! mature rating for talk of suicide and other adult themes as well as swearing ! !
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Series: Battle of the Bands [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1900531
Comments: 10
Kudos: 49





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [So Much Better](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22556440) by [Linisen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linisen/pseuds/Linisen). 



> Hi and welcome to my YOI Band AU!!! I got this idea after reading a YOI fanfic that I will link. I read it and had to come up with my own. I do want to say that, while this story will be a a few chapters long, I already have plans to continue this series beyond this story! I created this with the intent that it is a fun AU that I can come to when I have inspiration instead of forcing myself to write a long ass story that I get bored with or lose inspiration to write. I already have some one shot ideas for Yuuri & Viktor as well as Yuri & Otabek, Phichit & Chris, and Sara & Mila!!!  
> Also! Any songs I mention in a chapter/story will have a link to the version I had in mind while writing with it. I also will have a Spotify and Apple Music playlist with each of the songs from this universe. I will link those at the end of every chapter/story once I have it completed!  
> Also massive thanks to my best friend, Andy, for being my beta! You're the best <3  
> NOW without any further ado, please enjoy!

_You can do this. You’ve dreamed of this since starting Katsudon. You. Can. Do. This._

Yuuri Katsuki was staring at the sign up sheet as if it would hurt him, trying to gain the strength to put his band down. The annual _Battle of the Bands_ in the local NYU band scene was accepting entries, although it wasn’t for 3 months. Yuuri has dreamed of entering with his own band ever since he first attended two years ago. He started a band of his own this year with some of his best friends — Phichit, Leo, Guang Hong Ji — and could finally enter. 

He’s just nervous. 

Yuuri knows his band is good; they’ve been able to fill up the local venues easily since their debut. But, Yuuri couldn’t help but wonder if they were good enough to go up against some of the best bands in the area. Specifically, Ice Adolescence. 

Ice Adolescence was Yuuri’s favorite band. They’re a local band that is well known in the NYU band scene, having started 4 years ago when all the members — Viktor, Chris, Georgi, and Michele — had begun attending college. Yuuri’s sister would drag him to their shows before he was even in college and from the moment he heard Viktor’s voice, he couldn’t stop listening. 

Now, Yuuri had a chance to go up against them for the title of “Hottest Band”. So, sue him if he’s nervous right now. 

Yuuri has been standing in front of the sign up sheet for what feels like forever before he hears his best friend, Phichit, next to him. 

“Are you just gonna continue to stare at it or are you gonna pick up a pen and write something down?”

Yuuri jumps at the sound of Phichit’s voice that definitely wasn’t there 2 seconds ago. 

“Fuckin’ Christ, Phichit. Warn a guy before you sneak up on him.”

“Dude, I’ve been standing here for 5 minutes. You’re the one who’s lost in his own head,” Phichit looks back at the sign up board, “If you don’t do it yourself, I’ll do it. We’ve been dreaming of this since freshman year. We are not backing down now.”

Yuuri sighs, realizing that he’s right. Phichit and Yuuri met when they roomed together freshman year and have been inseparable since. They went to almost every Ice Adolescence show together and started Katsudon together. They’ve dreamed of joining _Battle of the Bands_ forever and dammit if Yuuri’s anxiety was gonna get in the way now. 

Yuuri snatches a pen from the cup next to the cork board, a little harder than he intended to, and scribbles down his band’s name before he can second guess himself again. Phichit is grinning from ear to ear as he puts the pen back down. 

“You did it! You fucking did it, man! We’re gonna be in Battle of the Bands!” 

Yuuri stares at the sign up sheet, not fully believing he did it. Him and his band were going to compete. He almost couldn’t believe it.

“We better get started on our lineup if we want enough time to practice,” Yuuri finally says. He started thinking about actually winning like it was actually attainable, not just some fantasy in his head. Phichit grins at him, pulling out his phone.

“I’ll call up the guys!”

\---------------------------------------------------------

Viktor is looking at the final list of bands for this year's _Battle of the Bands_ , recognizing most of them, until he stumbles upon a band he’s never heard of.

_Katsudon? Interesting name. Wonder who’s in it?_

“Hey, Chris,” he says, not looking up from his phone, “Have you ever heard of the band, Katsudon?”

“Kinda rings a bell but I can’t remember anything. Why?” Chris yells from his room in their shared apartment.

“They’re on this year's Battle of the Bands lineup but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them.”

“Look them up on Instagram! Let’s see what they’re about!” Chris emerges from his room to the living room where VIktor is lounging on their couch.

Viktor opens Instagram to type in the band name, finding it pretty easily. Looks like a lot of people that he follows also follows them. He starts scrolling through their feed, only to stop dead in his tracks when he sees Yuuri Katsuki.

The same Yuuri Katsuki that Viktor has had a massive minor crush on for like a year now ever since they kind of chatted at the _Battle of the Bands_ after party while Yuuri was **_VERY_ **drunk.

“Oh. My. God. Is that Yuuri Katsuki?” Chris screeches when he finally is able to look at Viktor’s phone.

“Yeah, it is,” Viktor breathes out, slightly shocked.

“He looks HOT! Oh my god and is that Phichit? The underclassman that is like the absolute cutest? HOW did we not know they had a band?!”

Honestly, Viktor doesn’t have an answer. They seem to be a newer band considering they only had about ten Instagram posts and the farthest they dated back was about 6 months ago. But, it seems like they have quickly gained a following, already having over 2,000 followers on instagram. Viktor’s band had about 5,000 so that was impressive. 

“They seem pretty new but people love them.”

“Let’s look at their Spotify! See what kind of music they perform!” Chris got comfortable on the couch with Viktor, waiting for him to pull up Katsudon’s playlist.

Viktor clicks the link in their bio that directs him to their Spotify playlist. They have a decent amount of songs for being pretty new. Viktor plays on their latest single, “[This is Home](https://youtu.be/2APLh8_ExU0)”, and turns the volume all the way up. The soft sound of the guitar fills his speakers, not something he would normally listen to. But once Yuuri starts singing, he can’t stop listening.

_Often I am upset_

_That I cannot fall in love_

_But I guess_

_This avoids the stress of falling out of it_

_Are you tired of me yet?_

_I'm a little sick right now_

_But I swear_

_When I'm ready I will fly us out of here_

_I'll cut my hair_

_To make you stare_

_I'll hide my chest and I'll_

_Figure out a way to get us out of here_

_Turn off your porcelain face_

_I can't really think right now in this place_

_There's too many colours_

_Enough to drive all of us insane_

_Are you dead?_

_Sometimes I think I'm dead_

_'Cause I can feel ghosts and ghouls wrapping my head_

_But I don't wanna fall asleep just yet_

_My eyes went dark_

_I don't know where_

_My pupils are but I'll_

_Figure out a way to get us out of here_

_Get a load of this monster_

_He doesn't know how to communicate_

_His mind is in a different place_

_Will everybody please give him a little bit of space?_

_Get a load of this trainwreck_

_His hair's a mess and he doesn't know who he is yet_

_But little do we know the stars_

_Welcome him with open arms_

_Oh_

_Time is_

_Slowly_

_Tracing his face_

_But strangely he feels at home in this place_

Viktor doesn’t know what to say now, which is rare for him. That song seemed so personal and deep. Yuuri definitely wrote it with specific intentions but, crazy enough, it can fit for almost anybody. His lyrics just wrap the listener up and makes them feel safe. The style is not something that Viktor would normally listen to but, honestly, if Yuuri is singing it, he’ll listen to it. 

If that’s how he sounds on a recording, Viktor can only imagine what he sounds like live.

Chris is the first one to finally speak after the song is over

“Holy shit, that was beautiful. I didn’t know that guy had it in him.”

Viktor finally shakes himself out of his head when he hears Chris’ voice. After a moment, he speaks.

“We definitely have some competition this year.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ucxq9e9XPAFpzBIJf2q1I?si=e0T-qD5pSV6WheaNvhuEGw  
> Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/battle-of-the-bands-yoi-band-au/pl.u-06oxDggFWEY3gyN


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the love on the first chapter! Like I said before, these first few chapters are going to be very dialogue heavy and shorter, just to set up the story plot with the competition. Then, we will get into the sweet sweet Victuuri :)
> 
> Hope you enjoy this next chapter!
> 
> Thank you, again, to my best friend, Andy for being my beta!
> 
> Sorry in advance for any Banana Fish fans.

Leo, Ji, and Phichit are all laughing and talking amongst themselves when Yuuri walks into the coffee shop, ready to go over _Battle of the Bands_ stuff. They had a little over 3 months to get their song list down for the weekend in November and Yuuri wanted it to be _perfect_.

He walks over after picking up his order and takes the empty seat next to Phichit, Leo and Ji sat close together with Leo’s arm around Ji.

“Okay, but Peach, you had to be there to see it! I’ve never seen the dude more angry!” Leo exclaims as Yuuri comes up.

“What are we talking about?” Yuuri inquires as he sits. He obviously walked in on the middle of a conversation. 

“I’m just telling Phichit about my lecture from today. Professor freaked out when someone pulled out a pomegranate during class. Dude flipped his lid and made all of us repeat back to him ‘no pomegranates’ in his class. Then proceeded to just scream it for like a whole ass minute. It was fucking hysterical!”

“What the actual fuck is wrong with some of these teachers?” Yuuri laughs as he takes a sip of his green tea latte. 

“I honestly don’t know,” Leo laughs with him, “But, hey, makes for great stories.”

Yuuri nods in agreement as he takes another drink. A comfortable silence falls amongst the bandmates as they all enjoy their drink. 

“Alright, guys let’s get this band meeting started,” Ji is the first to speak, “Yuuri, do you have the list of contenders for songs?”

“I sure do. I actually have a new one I wrote that I wanted to run by you guys. I was thinking we save this one for the competition and kind of get the element of surprise that we are singing a song no one has heard from us,” Yuuri rambles. He thought of this song pretty soon after signing up the band for the competition. He had been sitting on the melody of it for a while but couldn’t get any lyrics until that day. He stayed up all night writing it.

“Hell yeah, dude. Play it for us!’ Phichit exclaims.

“Okay. Now just a heads up, I wrote this one in Japanese but I have an English translation for it, too. Although, personally, I prefer the Japanese lyrics.”

“Whatever you like, man, is what we’ll go with,” Leo says, truthfully. Yuuri always has a knack for knowing what's best when it comes to the band’s music. Yuuri nods as he opens the GarageBand app on his phone to play the new song, “[Prayer X](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLkzla5toLQ)”.

_afuredashita namida no you ni_

_hitotoki no kirameku inochi naraba_

_deai to wakare wo_

_kurikaesu hibi no naka de_

_ittai zentai nani wo shinjireba ii?_

_umareochita_

_sono toki ni wa_

_nakiwameiteita_

_ubawarenai you ni_

_kutabaranai you ni_

_ikiru no ga seiippai da_

_mune ni sasatta naifu wo_

_nukezu ni iru no._

_nuita sono shunkan_

_shibuki wo agete_

_namida ga fukidasu deshou?_

_afuredashita namida no you ni_

_hitotoki no kirameku inochi naraba_

_deai to wakare wo_

_kurikaesu hibi no naka de_

_ittai zentai nani wo shinjireba ii?_

_kuttaku no nai egao no ura,_

_kakushiteita_

_ikiru tame no uso ga_

_mohaya hontou ka uso ka_

_wakaranakute_

_jibun no ibasho de sae mo_

_miushinatte iru no_

_ikari ni nomarete_

_hikari ni akogarete_

_kyou mo sora wo nagameru no deshou_

_kono jinsei ni_

_imi ga aru no nara_

_oshiete yo_

_moroku, hakanai hibi no naka de_

_itami ya kanashimi sae mo_

_nomihoshita ima, bokura wa_

_ittai zentai nani wo shinjireba ii?_

_afuredashita namida no you ni_

_hitotoki no kirameku inochi naraba_

_deai to wakare wo_

_kurikaesu hibi no naka de_

_ittai zentai nani wo shinjireba ii?_

Yuuri looks up at his friends and bandmates as the song finishes, trying to gauge their reactions.

“So? What do you guys think?"

Phichit is the first to say something.

“That. Was. Beautiful! How long did it take you to write that?”

“Well, I’ve been sitting on this melody for a while, trying to come up with lyrics for it but just couldn’t. Then, the day I signed us up for Battle of the Bands, I finally had inspiration to write these lyrics out and get it all put together. I’d say this took me an entire night to finish. I don’t think I slept until I was done with it.”

“Dude, that is seriously killer! Even if I couldn’t understand a single word you were saying, I could feel what they meant,” Leo says in the most Leo of ways.

“Yeah, Yuuri, this is great! We should definitely have this as one of our songs for the competition. We can start working on cleaning up the arrangement at the next band practice and get it completely polished and ready to go,” Ji says with a smile on his face.

“I’m so glad you guys like it. I was a little nervous because it’s definitely a different vibe from the rest of our songs but I couldn’t not put it out there at least.”

“Exactly! And once we finish and win Battle of the Bands, we can record and release this! Maybe even add it to the next EP!” Phichit exclaims. 

“Okay, now let’s talk about other songs. We should definitely do a fan favorite, which would probably be ‘ocean eyes’,” Ji continues the meeting, “Then figure out an older song to do. Any suggestions for that?”

“Oh! What about ‘Iris’? The first song we came out with? That’s always a crowd favorite since they can all do that fun lighter thing,” Leo chimes in, “That would be really cool!”

“Yeah, that’s perfect,” Yuuri says with a huge smile, “I think those songs with this new one would be perfect! I think that’s all we need?”

“Yep! The entire competition runs over the course of the weekend, with each band getting to perform one song each day they continue after the fans vote,” Phichit explains.

“We’ve got our lineup!” Ji whoops loudly, causing some of the patrons in the coffee shop to look over. 

One of those patrons being Viktor Nikiforov.

Yuuri looks around after Ji practically screams and catches eyes with Viktor, blushing when he smiles at them. He looks away before he can see Viktor get up and walk over to their table.

“Hey guys! You’re Katsudon, correct?” Viktor asks once he walks up to the table, Yuuri looking up when he hears him, Viktor making direct eye contact with him once he does, “I’ll admit, I may have done some light Instagram stalking when I saw the final list of bands go out. You guys are awesome!”

Yuuri has to take a second, not entirely believing that thee Viktor Nikiforov just said that Yuuri’s band, Katsudon, was “awesome”, “You like our music?”

“Hell yeah! I don’t normally listen to that kind of music but once I heard you sing, Yuuri, I was entranced, to say the least. I’m really excited to see what you guys come up with for the competition,” Viktor smiles down at Yuuri after giving him the genuine praise.

“T-t-thank you,” Yuuri couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “Wait, you know my name?”

It was Viktor’s turn to blush as he realized he did call Yuuri out by name. “Uhh, yeah, I-uhh found it on the band’s insta,” Viktor lies.

“Oh yeah, right,” Yuuri says, looking down, “Well, thanks again for the compliment. We are all super big fans of yours and are excited to see what you come up with this year, too.”  
Viktor beams, “Well thank you, Yuuri,” Viktor looks away from Yuuri and looks at the rest of the table, “And what are all your names?”

Yuuri looks over and starts to introduce them, starting with Phichit, “That is my best friend and bandmate, Phichit. We actually started this band together after rooming together freshman year,” Phichit waves to Viktor, who waves back.

“Then that is Leo,” Leo waves, “And Ji,” Ji smiles, “They are the other parts of Katsudon, playing bass and drums, respectively. They’ve also been dating forever.”

Viktor smiles and waves back to all of them. “It’s really nice to meet you guys. Like I said, I hadn’t really heard of you guys before the Battle of the Bands roster came out and just had to meet you guys when I saw you.”

As Viktor finishes, Chris walks up behind him. “Viktor, we are going to be late for practice.”

“Oh, right. Well it was nice meeting all of you,” Viktor looks down at Yuuri again, placing a hand on his shoulder, “I hope we meet again before the competition.”

Yuuri’s eyes follow Viktor as he walks out, seeing Viktor steal a glance back as he’s at the door. Yuuri goes bright red as Viktor winks at him, before leaving the coffee shop.

“Dude, what just happened?” Leo finally says after a minute of silence.

“Viktor Nikiforov just said he likes our band and music,” Yuuri finally breathes out, almost like he couldn’t believe it.

“And just deadass flirted with you almost the entire time!” Ji exclaims.

Yuuri looks up at that. “What? No he didn’t. He was just being nice is all,” Yuuri blushes as he thinks about the hand on his shoulder.

“Dude, he didn’t even acknowledge any of us until you guys finally stopped eye fucking. Then, he put his hand on your shoulder as if he was telling _you_ specifically that he hoped to see you again before competition, and then fucking _WINKED_ at you. He totally was into you,” Phichit says to Yuuri as if he was an idiot (which he kind of is).

“Whatever, guys, do not get my hopes up about that kind of stuff. I can barely comprehend the fact that he even knows we exist,” Yuuri looks down at his cup as he continues to think about the hand on his shoulder, “Come on, let's get to the rehearsal studio. I wanna start working on this new song.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the link to the English version of "Prayer X" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_dYDy_DlfM
> 
> I'll update soon!
> 
> Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ucxq9e9XPAFpzBIJf2q1I?si=e0T-qD5pSV6WheaNvhuEGw  
> Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/battle-of-the-bands-yoi-band-au/pl.u-06oxDggFWEY3gyN


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a mild trigger warning for slight mention of suicide. i don't ever fully mention it but it is alluded that Viktor attempted a few years prior to the events of this story. I want to explore that further eventually but i promise to always put a warning in the chapter before i do.
> 
> all of the songs listed in this chapter are linked to the version I was thinking of! also, one song will have rewritten lyrics when actually written on later.
> 
> thanks again to my best friend, Andy, for being my beta!

“Hey, guys, let’s go ahead and take, like, ten,” Viktor says at the end of their run. Him and his band, Ice Adolescence, have been practicing for 2 hours now, trying to get a head start on their _Battle of the Bands_ competition songs. He knew for a fact that Chris’ fingers were practically raw from how much they’ve been playing and he was due for a break. 

His bandmates audibly sigh as they all put their instruments down and finally sit down in the rehearsal space, a.k.a the biggest room in the house that Viktor shares with all of them. Everyone goes over to their favorite spot, doing whatever it is they need to do to get prepared for the next run through of the songs.

“Are we all good with the lineup?” Viktor asks after a minute of silence.

“Yeah, I’m happy with it. Some of my favorites of ours that we’ve put out in the last year,” Georgi says as he opens his water.

“Agreed. Some of the best stuff we’ve put out since we started,” Michele agrees.

Viktor nods, then looks over at Chris, his best friend and bandmate, once he realizes he hasn’t said anything to Viktor’s question.

“What do you think, Chris? Think we’ve got a good lineup?”

“Honestly?” Chris inquires.

“Nothing but the truth.”

Chris takes a deep breath before speaking. “I don’t know if it’s Battle of the Bands worthy. I mean, yeah, it’s our hits from this year, which is what we’ve done every year. But that’s the thing — it’s the same shit we’ve done every year. People expect it from us. I can almost guarantee every other band has already figured out what we are doing this year because we really do it the same way every year. We use our number one single as our opening number for the first day. Then, we use the song we all collectively love the most for the second day. And for the third day, it’s always the saddest song from the EP to make people’s emotions run wild on that last day and make them vote for us. I mean, isn’t it kinda boring? Doing the same thing? I mean, shouldn’t we be trying to come up with something fresh? We’ve got a new band going up against us this year and, if I’m being honest, they definitely have the highest chance of beating us over any of the other bands on that roster.”

“Chris is right,” Viktor interrupts, “I saw Katsudon meeting at Human Bean the today and, while I tried not to, I couldn’t help but hear that they wanted to debut a new song at the competition, bringing the element of surprise with them by doing that. And from what I could hear Yuuri play for the rest of his band, it is really fucking good. We need to come up with something new if we want to win the last Battle of the Bands before we all graduate.”

Chris looks over and smirks at Viktor. “Oh, so you and _Yuuri_ are on a first name basis now, huh?”

Viktor turns scarlet red as he realizes his slip up. “Shut up, Chris,” Viktor says with a sharp tone, “I’m serious, though. We need to come up with something new. Something that will shock the audience.”

Everyone in the room falls silent as they think of new ideas. It’s not easy breaking from the same routine that you’ve done every year since the beginning, but Viktor was determined. This was the last year Ice Adolescence would be competing as a college band and he wanted it to be the best year yet. That’s when it hit him.

“What if we did only oldies? I’m talking songs from our old soundcloud that most of these people have never heard of unless they’re some hardcore fans?”

All of the boys in the room look up at Viktor. Chris smiles like Viktor just had the most genius idea, Michele looking like Viktor is the smartest person ever, and Georgi just looking as indifferent as always.

“What songs did you have in mind?” Georgi asks, a tone of concern laced in his voice.

“Well, there’s ‘[Kill the Director’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVssCPuEzbM&list=PLthScsG2hlDXP4JUzgnbaTFT9hGZhTuik&index=12), our first song ever. We could do ‘[Sk8er Boy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz3X86877A0&list=PLthScsG2hlDXP4JUzgnbaTFT9hGZhTuik&index=15&t=0s)’-” Chris cuts Viktor off.

“You mean the song you wrote about JJ when he dumped you after you told him you wanted to stay in the band after he told you to quit?”

Viktor nods with an intense amount of enthusiasm. “Yep! That was the first song I ever wrote about heartbreak and I think it would be a great one, considering we don’t tend to sing a lot about love.”

Chris nods in agreement with Viktor but Michele pipes in before Chris has a chance to speak again.

“Didn’t you refer to him as a girl throughout that entire song?”

“Yeah but only because I wasn’t out at that point and didn’t want people knowing that it was about a boy.”

“Plus,” Chris chimes in, “who cares what the pronouns and genders are of fictional song characters. It only matters that we know the honest truth behind the song.”

“Exactly,” Viktor responds, “Some of the theories the fans had about who that song was about before I came out were HILARIOUS.”  
  
“Oh my god! Remember when people thought it was about Sara?” Georgi laughs.

“As if Michele over here would let anybody date his precious sister,” Viktor teases as Michele glares at him.

“Okay guys, back on track. We’ve got two songs down. What should our final one be?” Chris looks around as he asks the question.

They all go back into silence as they attempt to figure out the final song. Georgi is the first one to speak up.

“What about ‘[Adam’s Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAGTiJdfFwY&list=PLthScsG2hlDXP4JUzgnbaTFT9hGZhTuik&index=11)’?”

Viktor looks up at Georgi after he makes the suggestion. Honestly, they haven’t performed that song in about 2 years. Not since Viktor tried to----

“It’s perfect,” Viktor says, “That’ll be our third and final song.”

Chris looks over at Viktor, surprised by his willingness to perform that song.

“Viktor are you sure?”

“Absolutely. Why wouldn’t I be?” Viktor rushes out, trying to act nonchalant about the song choice. Chris knew better than to push it.

“Okay, well then let’s get back to practice and start polishing those songs again!” Michele says after a minute of tense silence falls amongst the bandmates. 

Viktor knows he should have thought more about that song before deciding to perform it but, honestly, he was just tired of bottling all of that up. That’s how the song came to be in the first place.

Everyone stands up and heads over to their respective places on the makeshift stage they built in the room. When the familiar start to “Kill the Directors” begins, Viktor almost forgets about the other song.

\-----------------------------------------

“Viktor.”

Viktor turns to Chris as he wraps up the microphone cords, ready to put them up for the day. The moment he hears the tone Chris has in his voice, Viktor knows he’s in for one of their rare talks.

Viktor sets down the wrapped up cords and stands up to fully turn towards Chris. 

“What’s up?”

“Are you sure you’re good to do ‘Adam’s Song’? I would understand if you’re not and the boys would, too. We know what that song-”

“Stop. Please. I know I should have thought about it more but, honestly, when Georgi suggested it, it sounded like the most obvious answer ever. That song does hold a lot of emotion and meaning for me and I think it’s time to share that with the world again,” Viktor admits, having cut Chris off.

“I’m gonna take your word for it, Viktor. But, if at any point, you don’t think you can do it, you let us know and we can choose a new song. You don’t have to force yourself to sing music that is hard for you.”

“I know,” Viktor says, “I just don’t know if I want to hide this song away anymore. It means so much to me, even though it hurts to perform sometimes. But, I do know that this song resonates with a lot of our fans the way it did with me when I wrote it. So many of them say it finally put into words how they feel each and every day. Don’t you think it’s right to give them that representation?”

“It is. But not at the sake of your mental health again. I can’t watch you go through the same things you went through when you wrote this song originally.”

Viktor smiles at his best friend, seeing the genuine care that he doesn’t get to see often as Chris tends to hide it in favor of acting like the man-whore he loves to be. “Thank you, Chris. I promise to let you know if this song gets to be too much.”

“Good. Now, tell me everything about your little meeting with Yuuri and the members of Katsudon I walked into earlier today.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoyed! something i think people forget when it comes to Viktor is that he was depressed in the show, having dealt with burning out in the sport he loved and feeling no inspiration for it. i want to continue to explore that in this story, the depression he fell into for reasons i'll try to explain later on.
> 
> Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ucxq9e9XPAFpzBIJf2q1I?si=e0T-qD5pSV6WheaNvhuEGw  
> Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/battle-of-the-bands-yoi-band-au/pl.u-06oxDggFWEY3gyN


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's start getting the ball rolling for these boys, shall we?
> 
> Big thanks to my wonderful best friend, Andy, for being my beta!

Yuuri pulls out one of his headphones as he walks into the pizza parlor, heading up to the front counter.

“Hi, I’m picking up an order for Yuuri?”

The cashier looks at her computer before speaking, “One large meat lover’s, one large hawaiian, 3 orders of breadsticks, and a 2 liter of Coke?”

Yuuri nods, “Yep, that’s mine.”

“Okay, your total is thirty-nine ninety-five.” Yuuri hands his card over to the cashier. “Okay and it should be out in like, twenty minutes. You can just wait over there,” She says, motioning to the benches located to the right of the register.

“Thank you.” Yuuri walks over and pulls his phone out, checking the band Instagram to see how people are responding to their announcement. They had decided to wait until the official _Battle of the Bands_ page posted about the final lineup to say anything to their fans. A couple of bands Yuuri had never heard of had joined but other than that it was the same lineup as every year. Their fans seemed excited to hear of their entry to the competition.

He hears the bells above the door jingle as someone enters the restaurant, but he doesn’t look up from his phone. Not until the person speaks.

“Picking up an order for Viktor.” When Yuuri hears that voice, he looks up only to see Viktor standing not even 10 feet away from him. Yuuri stares for a minute while Viktor interacts with the cashier but doesn’t notice when they’re done and Viktor turns in the same direction that Yuuri is currently sitting in. Viktor catches Yuuri’s eyes, smiling when he realizes that Yuuri is staring at him.

Yuuri freaks when Viktor looks at him and looks down at his phone quickly, hoping he doesn’t come off as weird. He doesn’t notice Viktor walking over until Yuuri can see his shoes.

“Hey, Yuuri! I didn’t know you came to Rock n’ Roll pizza,” Viktor says, trying to make any sort of conversation with him.

Yuuri looks up when he realizes Viktor is talking to him. He takes a steadying breath before speaking, “Uhhh yeah, I come here a lot actually. My rehearsal studio is like a couple blocks away so it’s the most convenient,” Yuuri manages to say that all without tripping on his words.

“Oh really? Where do you guys rehearse at?”

“Oh um we rented a small studio apartment that we sound-proofed. My parents are very kind and support us when it comes to our music so they pay for it.”

Viktor smiles at Yuuri before saying, “That’s so nice of them. It’s so nice when you have the support of your parents when venturing out into a world like music,” Viktor sits down next to Yuuri, leaving some space between them, regrettably so.

“Y-y-yeah, I guess I’m one of the lucky ones. My parents are immigrants and they came to America to allow me and my sister a better life, or at least that’s what they say. So they told me they wanted me to do whatever my heart desired and they would support me the entire way. They come to as many shows as they’re able to and even run the merch tables if I need the help. They own a small bed and breakfast just outside NYC so my mom also tends to promote our upcoming shows and stuff there as well. I don’t think I’d be where I am without my parents' support.” Yuuri smiles, thinking about all that his parents have done for him since the day he was born. Then he realizes he just told practically his whole life story to Viktor, someone he’s spoken to all of two times now. Before he has a chance to say something, Viktor speaks up.

“That’s very wonderful. Life is so much easier with the support of your parents,” Viktor sighs a bit, thinking about his own, “My parents aren’t nearly as supportive when it comes to my music. They think it’s a waste of time and that I should be focusing more on my studies if I’m gonna become a politician.”

“Is that even what you want to do?” Yuuri asks sincerely.

“Honestly? Being a politician sounds boring. I still want to be a political science major but people automatically think that means I want to be a politician. I want to take my degree somewhere else. Maybe be a PR rep for a big band or company. I mean, I’ve kinda gotten down anyways, with my own band.”

Yuuri smiles at Viktor’s answer. “You’d be really good at that. I’ve already seen you clean up the damages of some of your bandmates and you always get it done and get it done right.”

Viktor laughs, remembering the time Georgi drunkenly posted on their Instagram about how much he missed his ex-girlfriend, Anya, which almost resulted in a restraining order. “Yeah, some of my mates can be a bit much when they’re drunk. I’m just glad none of them have gotten into serious trouble, yet.”

Yuuri laughs as well at that comment and stares down at his hands to hide his smile. Viktor takes notice. “Hey, why’re you hiding that radiant smile?”

Yuuri snaps back up at that comment, not fully comprehending what Viktor just said to him. _Did Viktor Nikiforov actually just say I have a radiant smile?_

“Uh, yes. Yes, I did. Only because it’s true. You have one of the most radiant smiles I’ve seen on someone.” Yuuri blushes when he realizes he said his thoughts out loud.

“Oh um w-w-well thank you, Viktor,” Yuuri’s cheeks grow redder by the second as Viktor continues to smile at him, his gaze unwavering.

“You’re welcome, Yuuri,” it’s Viktor’s turn to blush as he asks, “Could I get your number? I would love to talk to you more, not just when we run into each other while getting food.”

Yuuri swears his heart has stopped beating and his lungs are no longer taking in oxygen. Viktor Nikiforov just asked him for his number. Yuuri must have been quiet for a moment too long because Viktor’s smile fell a bit.

“If you don’t want to, that's-” That brings Yuuri back to the present.

“NO! I mean, yes, I would love to give you my number,” Yuuri stutters out with a shaky smile.

Viktor’s smile shines brighter than the sun when he hears Yuuri’s reply. He hands his phone to Yuuri, letting him type in his number. As soon as he has his phone back, he texts Yuuri to share his number.

**_Hello yuuri :)_ **

Yuuri smiles as he adds Viktor’s number to his phone, secretly adding a heart that Viktor doesn’t see. If only Yuuri knew that Viktor already edited his contact name with a heart, too.

Just as they both finish exchanging numbers, the cashier calls out Yuuri’s order.

“Oh, I guess that’s mine,” Yuuri looks back to Viktor with a soft smile, “It was nice chatting with you, Viktor. I’ll text you once I’m done with practice.” Yuuri stands, still looking at Viktor.

“I’ll be waiting,” Viktor says with a fond smile.

Yuuri grabs his food and waves goodbye to Viktor, heart pounding as Viktor waves back and winks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoyed!
> 
> next few chapters will be very relationship centric for these two! hope you're ready for all the fluff!
> 
> Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ucxq9e9XPAFpzBIJf2q1I?si=e0T-qD5pSV6WheaNvhuEGw  
> Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/battle-of-the-bands-yoi-band-au/pl.u-06oxDggFWEY3gyN


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let's add some more romance, shall we? :)
> 
> Thanks again to Andy for being my beta! you're the best!

Once the boys had each other’s numbers, they couldn’t stop texting and talking to each other. It seemed like each of their phones were constantly buzzing with a reply from the other. Viktor would always be sending Yuuri the funniest videos while Yuuri was constantly sending over pictures of all the dogs he met on his walks.

And, when they could, they were always spending time together, just laughing about anything and everything. They had deep conversations about their parents and plans after college. They talked about song meanings, even ones that they had never shared with anyone outside of their bands. It seemed like they both found someone to confide in and to share their thoughts with. Most of the time, this happened over coffee, tea, or some kind of greasy food they both enjoyed. It was nice.

Still, Yuuri didn’t know if Viktor had any feelings for him. Why would someone as kind, attractive, and talented as Viktor be into Yuuri?

Yuuri put those thoughts aside as he slipped his phone in his back pocket and headed up to the studio. Today, they were recording “Project X” to prepare it for release after the _Battle of the Bands_ , which was a little over a month away. Yuuri opens the door to the apartment to hear that the rest of the guys are there, chatting away as they start to tune their instruments and prepare the recording equipment. 

“Hey guys! You almost ready to get started?” Yuuri yells from the door.

“Hey, Yuuri! Yeah, just about ready. Waiting for you!” Phichit replies, looking up from his keyboard, “Oh! By the way, something was waiting at the door for you. I didn’t read who it was from.”

Yuuri approaches Phichit with a curious look on his face. He doesn’t remember ordering anything and doesn’t know who would leave something for him. He picks the package up, not seeing any kind of return label on it. It just says “ _hopefully this brings that gorgeous smile to your face_ ”.

Yuuri blushes once he realizes who it’s from. “Viktor,” he whispers. He slowly begins to open the package, revealing an Ice Adolescence crew neck sweater, the same one Yuuri had told Viktor he’d wanted but couldn’t get at the time. It was the same design from the first time Yuuri saw them live with his sister, Mari. He pulls it out of the box fully and just stares at it for a minute, not fully believing that Viktor actually sent him something he’d wanted for so long. 

“Dude, is that Ice Adolescence [merch](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.kindpng.com%2Fimgv%2FTRwhbi_depressing-sad-girl-drawings-hd-png-download%2F&psig=AOvVaw0XseZWh2Pe8WXtMScKGPbM&ust=1599424727092000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAMQjB1qFwoTCOiD_bjw0usCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAK)?” Leo says from behind him. Apparently the rest of Katsudon was curious to see what was in the box so they migrated behind Yuuri. 

“Yeah,” he breathes out, “Viktor sent it. I had told him that I had wanted one of these when I went to that concert with Mari before even starting college. I didn’t think he’d actually send me one.”

Phichit looks into the box, again, “Hey, there’s a note at the bottom.”

Yuuri looks down into the box to see a piece of paper. He puts the sweater on the table before reaching in to grab the letter. He folds it open and reads. 

_Yuuri,_

_I hope you enjoy this gift. When you mentioned that you wanted this design, I couldn’t help but make sure you had it. This was my personal one that I had held onto. I hope you like it and it brings that shining smile to your beautiful face._

_Hope to see you in it :)_

_Viktor ♡_

Yuuri had to read it over a couple of times to fully comprehend what he was reading. He smiles down at it as he reads it a third time. He folds the letter up and sticks it in his back pocket, picking up the sweater and heading to the bathroom to change into it. He could faintly smell Viktor’s cologne on the sweater, slightly burrowing into the pleasant smell. Before heading back to the main room to begin recording, he snaps a picture of him wearing his new favorite shirt and the same smile he’s had since opening the gift and sends it off to Viktor. 

**_thank you viktor. i love it ♡ how can i repay you?_ **

After barely a minute, his phone buzzes with a reply from Viktor. 

**_wear it when i pick you up for some coffee tomorrow?_ **

Yuuri gasps and blushes at Viktor’s forwardness but can’t help but love it. This definitely puts those doubts away from his mind. He smiles wide as he types back his reply. 

**_sounds like a date. 10 ok?_ **

Viktor’s reply is almost instant. 

**_sounds perfect. see you then 😘_ **

Yuuri giggles then puts his phone away, joining his band mates. He doesn’t mention the date but they do tease him about putting the sweater on.

“Screw you guys. Come on, we have a lot of work to do today.” Yuuri walks over to the main computer they have, opening the recording and mixing program. He doesn’t hear Phichit up next to him until he speaks.

“You’re telling me what’s going on after practice.”

Yuuri jumps but laughs at his friend, “Fine. Let’s grab a pizza on the way home and I’ll tell you everything.” 

“I’m gonna hold you to that,” Phichit glares at Yuuri but immediately starts laughing after. Yuuri laughs with him before standing up to get the recording session started.

“Okay! Let’s start working on the instrumentals first so we can get those down then start on vocals. Leo! You’re up!”

————————

Viktor couldn’t stop smiling at his phone once he got the picture of Yuuri. He immediately saved the photo and made it his lock screen, not even caring about it. He felt light on his feet after confirming the date with Yuuri, heading back into the living room where his roommates and bandmates were all hanging out. Chris looks up at Viktor after he notices him enter.

“Oh Vitya, what’s with that lovestruck smile?” Chris teases, Georgi and Michele looking over now as well.

“I may or may not have a date with Yuuri tomorrow morning,” Viktor shyly says, still not really looking up from his phone.

“Holy shit, dude, no way!” Michele exclaims from his seat, “You finally grew the balls to ask him out?”

“How the hell did you manage to finally do it?” Georgi laughs.

“Well, a few days ago, I asked Yuuri the first show he ever saw of ours and it was like a year after we had started. He said that he had wanted one of the merch designs from that year but couldn’t afford to get it, since he was saving up for college. So, I may or may not have sent him my sweater from that year. And he may have sent me a picture of him wearing it,” Viktor swoons at even just the thought of the image, “He asked how he could repay me and I just said by grabbing coffee with me tomorrow. I literally have no idea where that came from!”

“Holy shit, you’re talking about the design with the woman crying snowflakes, right? That was one of your favorites!” Michele gasps from the couch.

“I know, but I would gladly give up anything for Yuuri,” Viktor sighs. It was the truth. Before they started talking, Viktor knew Yuuri was attractive and kind. But since they’ve been talking and getting closer, Viktor felt like he really _knew_ Yuuri. He knew that Yuuri had anxiety about almost everything but the moment he was on stage, he felt a peace, like it was where he belonged. He knew that Yuuri’s parents were immigrants that moved to America so Yuuri and his sister could have a chance at the life they never had. He knew how much Yuuri loved dogs, taking a serious liking to getting Maccachin pictures from Viktor. He knew Yuuri appreciated older literature and classics but actually preferred cheesy romance novels that 40-year old mom’s would buy. 

Viktor felt like it was such an honor and a privilege to get to know so much about Yuuri and was determined to learn more and treasure it all.

“Holy shit, you’re falling in love,” Chris states, hands clutching his chest as if his heart was going to burst out at any moment.

Viktor looked up at Chris, trying to come up with some sort of rebuttal, but he couldn’t. Chris was definitely right. All the times they spent together and all the texts they shared had started implanting themselves into Viktor’s heart, causing him to fall hard for Yuuri.

But, Viktor didn’t plan to share this with Yuuri. Not until he knew Yuuri felt the same. He didn’t want to scare off the man he so desperately wanted in his life. 

Viktor’s lack of response caused a soft but teasing smile to grow on Chris’ lips. “Knew it. You’ve been gone for that boy since you guys ran into each other at that coffee shop the first time.”

“Yeah, I really have been,” Viktor agrees, a soft smile on his face.

“Just don’t let yourself get hurt,” Georgi implores.

 _“Of course you would say that, Georgi,”_ Viktor thinks to himself. Georgi didn’t have the best line of relationships.

“Thanks. Anyways, enough about my blooming love life. What were we talking about before I came in?” Viktor steers the conversation.

“Well, we had been looking up this other new band that joined the roster last minute, Ice Tiger, and you won’t believe who it is,” Michele pulls out his phone, typing away for a second before showing Viktor. He squints at the screen for a moment before his eyes go wide.

“Is that my cousin, Yuri?!” Viktor all but screams.

“Sure is, buddy. And he’s up there with his friend, Mr. Otabek Altin,” Chris smirks at that. 

“Oh my god. Why didn’t he tell me he had a band?”

“Looks like they’re pretty new, having just formed about 4 months ago. They already have a few singles out, which I’m assuming they’re gonna perform for the competition. They’re pretty good. Strangely, they’re style is a weird combo of ours and Katsudon?” Michele babbles on. Viktor still couldn’t believe that his cousin, the one he practically helped raise, didn’t tell him about starting a band with his friend.

“I’ll have to listen later then. He’s bound to be good, knowing my cousin,” Viktor chuckles, “I am gonna head to the shower now before starting on homework. Be, like somewhat quiet, please?” Viktor begs.

“Will do, Viktor,” Chris smiles but the glimmer in his eye suggests something else.

Viktor rolls his eyes with a smile before turning towards his room, aiming to grab clothes for his shower. As soon as he is out of the living room, Chris fakes the loudest moans causing Michele and Georgi to laugh. Viktor laughs too before screaming back, “Oh fuck you Chris! You’re just awful!”

The moaning stops and Chris’ voice can be heard among the laughter. Viktor continues on to his room with a smile. Once there, he takes a moment to look at his phone, seeing a text from Yuuri. With quick fingers, he unlocks his phone.

**_In rehearsal and can’t stop thinking about you. Can’t wait for tomorrow. ♡_ **

Viktor blushes down at the text as he quickly types a reply before grabbing his stuff and heading to the bathroom.

**_I can't wait, either ♡_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you guys enjoyed! next chapter: the date!
> 
> the image i had in mind for the Ice Adolescence merch is linked. I imagined that woman with snowflakes falling down her face. I tried to google art with someone actually crying snowflakes but I kept getting dumbass republican propaganda so i settled for one where I could easily imagine a snowflakes.
> 
> Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ucxq9e9XPAFpzBIJf2q1I?si=e0T-qD5pSV6WheaNvhuEGw  
> Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/battle-of-the-bands-yoi-band-au/pl.u-06oxDggFWEY3gyN


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! Sorry I haven't posted in a week. I needed time to work out the rest of the story before posting the next chapter.  
> Thank you guys for all of the love and support you have shown on this story! I can't wait for you guys to read the rest of this.  
> And now, time for the date!  
> Thank you, Andy, for being my beta!

Yuuri was fiddling with his sweater sleeves as he waited outside his apartment building for Viktor. He was nervous, considering last night's events. Sure, they had gone out for coffee together before but this time, it was explicitly a date. So, yeah, Yuuri was pretty fucking nervous.

He had pulled out his best looking black jeans to wear with the Ice Adolescence sweater, having paired the look with his Doc Martens. He had some chains hanging from his belt loops and some around his neck. He had some fake freckles dotting his face, one of signature looks, as well as a light layer of lip gloss on as well. Yuuri believed makeup was for anyone and proudly wore it when he wanted. And, even with his underlying nerves, he knew he looked hot.

Yuuri glances down at his phone again, nervous as the clock ticks to 10:01. Yuuri’s mind started racing, saying Viktor had changed his mind and didn’t want to go out with him anymore and realized that Yuuri was just a weird obsessed person and —

Just as Yuuri’s mind started to spiral, he heard a car pull up in front him. He finally decided to look up from the ground, seeing Viktor’s car and Viktor getting out of said car. 

_ Oh. He’s right there. _

Viktor was standing in front of him wearing a black t-shirt, tucked into a pair of ripped dark-wash jeans. He had a lighter denim jacket layered over it, patches and embroidered words covering it. His hair was down with a black beanie covering the top of it. Yuuri thought he looked absolutely gorgeous and just stared as Viktor began to speak.

“I’m so sorry, Yuuri. My roommates were all hounding me this morning about the date and they wouldn’t let me leave and then there was an accident on the way here, because of course there would be, and I-” as Viktor ramles on, he looks up to see Yuuri standing there with a pretty blush on his face, “Wow. I can’t even begin to believe how beautiful you are.”

Yuuri inhales loudly while his eyes go wide at the compliment. He still wasn’t used to someone being so nice to him. “Uhhh, t-th-tha-thank y-you. You’re very pretty yourself.” Yuuri looks down as he delivers the compliment, losing his voice. 

Viktor smiles and walks up into Yuuri’s space. He lightly grabs Yuuri’s chin and lifts his head up, chocolate brown meeting ocean blue. Yuuri stops breathing.

“I’m so happy you agreed to coffee today, Yuuri. You truly do look absolutely stunning right now,” Viktor says breathily. He leans down and lightly kisses Yuuri’s cheek, relishing in the gasp it pulls from him. He pulls away and sees the red on Yuuri’s cheek has traveled down to his neck, flushing him beautifully. Viktor backs up just the tiniest bit to hold his hand out to Yuuri. “Ready to go?”

Yuuri can’t stop staring at Viktor as he nods and gives his hand to the taller man. Viktor smiles as he takes his hand and leads him over to the car. He opens the door for Yuuri and waits until he is all the way seated and settled before shutting the door. He hurries back over to his side and slides in, giddy with excitement for today.

Once Viktor starts his car up again, his speakers begin playing music, specifically Yuuri’s music. Yuuri looks at the radio as if he couldn’t believe it before looking up to Viktor whose face was beet-red.

“You were listening to my music on the way here?” Yuuri asks with a soft smile, not a trace of teasing.

“Uh, yeah. I’ve become slightly obsessed with your music. It’s so soothing and beautiful,” Viktor admits.

Yuuri blushes at that, slightly in awe of the fact that Viktor actually listens to his music. He just slightly hoped he didn’t realize one of the songs was about him. 

“Well, thank you,” Yuuri sincerely says. Viktor smiles and begins to drive towards their favorite coffee shop, “You know, I’ve been listening to your music ever since that first concert. You have a way of telling stories with your lyrics unlike anyone else.”

Viktor’s cheeks turn red as Yuuri speaks. He knew Yuuri liked his music, but to hear him say things like that put a new kind of flutter in his heart. He was slowly falling more and more in love. 

“You are too kind, Yuuri, thank you,” Viktor reaches over and places a hand on Yuuri’s thigh, giving it a gentle squeeze to show a small bit of affection. He leaves his hand resting there, ready to take it off if Yuuri is uncomfortable. Yuuri gasps slightly, looking down at the hand. He doesn’t make a move to take the hand off, though, happy to let it rest there. It sent a tingle down his spine, a sort of school girl-like excitement that Viktor was touching him. 

Viktor pulls up in front of the Human Bean, turning off his car before quickly getting out so he could open the door for Yuuri. The Japanese boy blushes as he steps out, taking Viktor’s offered hand. He figured Viktor would let go once he was out of the car but he laced their fingers together instead. Yuuri smiles down at their hands before looking back up at a smiling Viktor. They head inside without a word. 

————————————

The date was going incredibly well. Viktor had ordered their regular drinks as well as some banana bread and a donut to share, having paid for all of it, much to Yuuri’s protests. They sat down at their regular table in the back corner as they waited for their drinks and food and began chatting like they always did.

This time was different, though. This time, Viktor had tangled their feet together under the table so their hands weren’t occupied. This time, Yuuri was able to reach over and wipe away the crumb that stayed on Viktor’s lips, lingering just the tiniest bit. This time, there was slight tension buzzing in the air around them, not in a bad way.

It was in the way they sat closer together, leaning forward on the table a bit more than normal, touches lingering everywhere. Eyes fell to each other’s lips more often than normal, tracing where the other would lick away any excess coffee or foam. They both felt as if there was a pull between them that was making them move closer and closer together. 

Soon enough, after the drinks had been finished and food had been cleared, they were getting up and leaving the shop, hand-in-hand. They both agreed they didn’t want their time to end so they walked around together, ending up in Central Park. 

The leaves had begun to fall, creating a beautiful scene for the love struck boys. They walked in a comfortable silence for the moment, content with just being in each other’s presence, holding each other’s hand. When they found a bench along the path, they decided to take a break and sit, this time thigh touching thigh as Viktor wrapped an arm around Yuuri’s shoulder. Yuuri was the first one to speak. 

“I’ve had a really wonderful time today, Viktor,” he turns and catches Viktor’s eyes, ready to drown in the ocean of them. 

“Me too, Yuuri,” he glances down briefly at Yuuri’s lips before back up, “I would love to do this again sometime.” 

Yuuri notices the way Viktor looks at his lips, doing the same to Viktor. “I would love that, too,” He looks down at Viktor’s lips at the same time Viktor looks at his. They slowly inch closer together, heads tilting. Viktor brings a hand up to caress Yuuri’s cheek as their lips slot together in a chaste kiss. 

Electricity runs down Yuuri’s spine when their lips touch, a small gasp coming from him. He grasps at Viktor’s jacket just to have something to hold onto, afraid he might float away. The kiss deepens slightly, not with more heat but with more passion and affection. A barrier had between them until this moment but, now, it’s finally broken. Neither want to let go but soon the need for air is too much.

Yuuri is the first to pull away, a deep blush present on his cheeks and trailing down his neck. Viktor opens his eyes and smiles down at Yuuri, cheeks just as red.

“Wow,” is all Viktor is able to get out as he stares at Yuuri, smile never slipping from his face. They both giggle softly before Yuuri leans in and kisses Viktor again chastley.

“Wow, indeed. Didn’t think that was gonna happen,” Yuuri says breathily. Viktor swipes his thumb across Yuuri’s cheek, almost unable to look away from the other boy.

“You are the most beautiful person I’ve ever had the pleasure of getting to look at,” Viktor admits, smile soft and eyes filled with affection.

Yuuri blush grows impossibly darker, not fully being able to accept the compliment. To think, the same person he has had a crush for forever actually likes him back and thinks he’s attractive. It almost doesn’t seem real. Just as Yuuri was about to lean in for another kiss, his phone goes off with an alarm.  _ Dammit. _

Yuuri groans as he regrettably pulls away from Viktor so he can pull his phone out and shut the alarm off. “Dammit, I’m sorry. I set an alarm so I wouldn’t miss my classes today.”

Viktor places a kiss on Yuuri’s cheek, “Don’t worry. How about I take you back to your place and you can grab your stuff and I can give you a ride to class?”

“You wouldn’t mind?” 

“Not at all,” Viktor smiles before standing up, holding his hand out for Yuuri to take, fingers linking together as they walk back to the coffee shop where Viktor’s car was. They walked in a comfortable silence with Yuuri slightly leaning on Viktor, his hand not holding Viktor’s resting on his arm. Once at the car, Viktor opens the door for Yuuri once again, Yuuri pressing a kiss to his cheek as he goes to sit down.

Once Viktor is in the car, Yuuri’s music starts up again as they head back to Yuuri’s apartment. On the way there, “[ocean eyes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEQa4iSq2xo&list=PLthScsG2hlDXP4JUzgnbaTFT9hGZhTuik&index=10&t=0s)” starts playing and Yuuri goes red. Viktor makes a pleasant hum when he hears it.

“This is one of my favorite songs of yours,” He admits. Yuuri whips his head over to Viktor at that comment.

“It is?”

Viktor nods, “It’s so beautiful.”

Before Yuuri can stop his mouth from talking, he’s speaking an embarrassing truth. “I wrote this about you.”

Viktor looks over at Yuuri with wide eyes before quickly having to look back at the road. “You did?” 

Yuuri is mortified that he just said that out loud but it is definitely too late now to go back. He looks down at his lap as he continues, “Uhhhh, y-y-yeah, I did. I had just gotten home from one of your concerts and I had this massive crush on you, still do, and I couldn’t stop thinking about your eyes. And I had to write down what I was feeling. And now, it’s one of my most popular songs.”

Viktor really couldn’t believe it. This song was about him. Listening to the lyrics with that new information made him tear up a bit. “That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me, Yuuri. It’s such a beautiful song.”

Yuuri looks up at Viktor, slightly shocked, “Y-you don’t think it’s weird?”

“No, not at all. It’s sweet actually,” Viktor looks over with a soft smile once he pulls up to the red light.

Yuuri sighs in relief and smiles back, “Well, then I’m glad you like it.”

They finally pull up to Yuuri’s apartment and he runs upstairs to quickly grab his book bag and laptop before heading back down to the car where Viktor is waiting. He slides back in, smiling. 

“Okay, I’m ready.”

Viktor smiles back and leans over to press a small kiss to Yuuri’s lips, unable to stop himself. He pulls back just as quickly, no matter how much he wants to just press closer. He pulls back onto the street, resting his right arm on the middle console. 

Yuuri decides to take that as his opportunity to entangle their fingers once again, as if it was already second nature. Their hands seemed to fit like two perfect puzzle pieces. He strokes his thumb back and forth, heaving a content sigh as he does.

This felt right to both of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! We are officially halfway done with this story! Hope to have chapter 7 up soon but I want to finish writing another chapter before I post it.
> 
> Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ucxq9e9XPAFpzBIJf2q1I?si=e0T-qD5pSV6WheaNvhuEGw  
> Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/battle-of-the-bands-yoi-band-au/pl.u-06oxDggFWEY3gyN


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Welcome back! Here is chapter 7 for you guys! I've decided I'm gonna do weekly updates as I finish out this story, giving me time to properly write, edit, and post them. This one is kinda short but I promise I'll make up for it in the next three chapters after.
> 
> Thank you Andy for being my beta!
> 
> Hope you guys enjoy!

Viktor was sitting in the Human Bean, waiting for his cousin, Yuri, when he started to think about Yuuri. Specifically, how things had been since the date 2 weeks ago.

They spent nearly all of their free time together. They would hang out after rehearsals with their bands, facetime when they were doing homework, or got up early to get coffee before their busy days. Viktor hasn’t genuinely felt this happy in such a long time and it was so refreshing. Through this, he finally gained inspiration for new songs that he planned to release after Battle of the Bands, one he hoped Yuuri would actually collab with him on.

Viktor opened his phone to look at the picture of Yuuri in his sweater again before he heard the jingle of the door as someone entered. He looked up to see his younger cousin, Yuri, walk in with the same scowl he wore everyday. Viktor smiled as he waved him over to the table, sliding over the frappuccino he had requested.

“Yuri! It’s been too long! How have you been?” Viktor asks excitedly. The two hadn’t seen each other in quite some time due to Viktor’s much busier schedule, seeing as he was about to graduate. 

“Fine. Just been preparing to kick your ass at Battle of the Bands,” Yuri says, taking a sip of his drink. 

“I'm sure you’ll really give it your all,” Viktor laughs, “Why didn’t you tell me about your band?” 

Yuri blushes slightly at the question. “Honestly? I don’t know. I guess I didn’t want you thinking I was trying to copy you or something. You know I’ve always been drawn to music, too. And when I met Otabek last year, I’d finally met someone I felt like I could do it with,” Yuri’s blush actually grows darker at the mention of his bandmate,”I still had all those songs I’d written put away and was waiting for the day to fix them up.”

Viktor smiles at his cousin’s declaration, “That’s awesome! Otabek sounds really nice. Can’t wait to meet him at the competition,” he admits sincerely, “I’m sorry if I made you feel like you couldn’t tell me. I support anything and everything you do. I promise I’ll support you from here on out.”

Yuri looks up and let’s slip one of his rare small smiles before going back to his RBF. “Thanks, Viktor.”

“Of course, Yuri. I can’t wait to see what you do at the competition this year,” Viktor smiles at his cousin. He takes a sip of his latte as someone enters the cafe. He looks over and sees it’s none other than Yuuri. Viktor can’t help but smile as he sees the man that has his heart. 

“Yuuri!” Viktor calls. 

Yuuri turns his head to see who called his name, only to see it’s Viktor. He smiles a bit before looking over and seeing someone he didn’t recognize sitting across from him. 

_ Who’s that? One of Viktor’s friends? Why don’t I recognize them? Is Viktor here on a date with them? Does he not like me anymore?  _

Yuuri starts to spiral as he walks over to the table Viktor and the mystery person are sitting at. 

“H-Hey, Viktor,” Yuuri says timidly, “Didn’t think you’d be here.”

“Oh, yeah well class got out early today because my professor had an emergency. Figured I’d come by and catch up with my favorite cousin.”

Yuuri’s eyes go slightly wide at that. His cousin? Viktor had never told him.

“Your cousin?”

“Yep! Crazy enough, you guys kinda have the same name,” Viktor looks over at Yuri, “Yuuri, this is Yurio, my cousin. Yurio,” Viktor looks back to Yuuri, “This is Yuuri, my boyfriend.”

Yuuri’s eyes go impossibly wide and his cheeks go red. They hadn’t really defined their relationship at this point, even though they both had intense feelings for each other. Yuuri was going to ask him officially at the competition in 2 weeks at the after party. 

“Boyfriend?” both Yu(u)ri’s express at the same time. 

Viktor matches Yuuri’s blush once he realizes what he said. 

“Uh, I mean,” Viktor looks at Yuuri seeing his unsure expression. At that moment, Viktor made a decision. 

“Yes. My boyfriend.” The way Yuuri’s eyes lit up at that declaration makes admitting that worth it.

Yuri looks between the two before speaking, “Okay, well, nice to meet you, other Yuuri. I just realized I have band practice to get to if I’m gonna win Battle of the Bands so have fun.”

“Have fun at practice, Yurio. Good luck!” Viktor says with a smile as the shorter one walks out. He looks back at Yuuri, cheeks still slightly tinted.

“I’m gonna go place my order and then we’re gonna have a chat, boyfriend,” Yuuri teases as he walks over to the counter. Viktor blushes as he walks away. 

He honestly didn’t know where it came from, calling Yuuri his boyfriend. In the moment, it just felt right. It still felt right to think that. 

While Viktor is processing his thoughts, Yuuri comes back over and sits down to wait for his drink, speaking once he’s settled.

“So, boyfriends?” Yuuri asks with a smile, fiddling with his sweater sleeves.  _ Dammit,  _ Viktor thinks,  _ He has no business being this cute so effortlessly.  _

“I hope you don’t mind. It just kinda slipped out when introducing you but I definitely don’t regret it. I’ve been trying to find the right time to formally ask you but I’d been having fun just spending time with you, I didn’t want to ruin it,” Viktor rambles, unnaturally nervous.

Yuuri gasps at Viktor’s words, trying to comprehend them. Viktor was going to ask him to be his boyfriend. Viktor actually wants a relationship. Seeing Viktor grow increasingly nervous, Yuuri finally says what’s on his mind. 

“I don’t mind at all. I was planning on asking you, too. After the Battle of the Bands was over. At the after party,” Yuuri blushes as he looks down at his hands. In that moment, the barista brings over his green tea latte so he wraps his hands around the cup, trying to keep from fidgeting.

Viktor’s heart flutters intensely as Yuuri speaks, taking in everything he was saying. “You were?”

All Yuuri can muster is a nod before looking back up at him. “I had a kinda dumb thing planned where I would ask you if you’ll be the ocean eyes in my life. Since I wrote that song about you.” The blush on Yuuri’s face got impossibly redder.

Viktor lets out a full belly laugh with no malice in it. “That is the cutest and sweetest thing ever and now I kinda wish I got to see that,” Viktor reaches over and grabs one of Yuuri’s hands that are wrapped around his drink, before softly saying “I definitely would have said yes if you did that.”

Yuuri looks down at their joined hands and smiles before he brings his eyes back to Viktor’s enchanting ones. All of the emotions they were each feeling were finally out in the open, affection replacing the nerves that had previously been present in each of their gazes. After just gazing at each other for a moment, Viktor is the first to speak.

“Wanna go get dinner? Boyfriend?” 

Yuuri’s smile grows as he nods. The two of them stand together and leave the coffee shop, hand in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, boyfriends!
> 
> I have already written chapter 8 but I won't post till next week. I want to get chapters 9 & 10 written before I post the next chapter as these are the ones with the most plot, angst, and fluff and they take a pretty long time to write. These chapters finally see us in the competition so I want to make sure they get the most love of any of the chapters. then, chapters 11 & 12 will see the wrap up of the story! As promised, I will continue to write oneshots with song inspos, already having a list of them.
> 
> Well, anyways, I can't wait to share chapter 8 next week! stay safe and healthy!
> 
> If you read to the end of this note, you deserve a cookie.
> 
> Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ucxq9e9XPAFpzBIJf2q1I?si=e0T-qD5pSV6WheaNvhuEGw  
> Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/battle-of-the-bands-yoi-band-au/pl.u-06oxDggFWEY3gyN


	8. Day 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's day 1 of the competition. Will Yuuri's nerves get the better of him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry for the late upload. I had some stuff going on plus I wanted to have a couple more chapters written before posting this so again sorry!  
> Keep up to date on my twitter @afckingqueer I'm gonna start posting story updates there  
> Thank you Andy for being my beta!  
> Enjoy!

Yuuri stopped in his tracks as he walked up to the familiar performance hall, _Minako’s Stage_. It was a kinda run down place that held the concerts for pretty much all of these local bands. It was run by Minako Okukawa, a friend of Yuuri’s family. She was the one that started teaching Yuuri piano then guitar once he was old enough. She was ecstatic when she saw Yuuri had finally signed up for the competition.

The big day was finally here. First day of the _Battle of the Bands_. As Yuuri stood in front of the performance space, his mind started to race. What if he forgot all of the lyrics? What if one of the boys ended up sick? What if when he looked out at the crowd, he froze up? What if they ended up in last place? 

He continued to let those thoughts race in his head and didn’t notice when Viktor was behind him. He was brought out of his intrusive thoughts when Viktor slipped his arms around his middle, resting his head on the shorter man’s shoulder. 

“What’s running through that handsome head of yours?” Viktor whispers in Yuuri’s ear, causing a shiver to run down his spine. Yuuri doesn’t turn around, not being able to look his boyfriend in the eye as he speaks. 

“Am I good enough for this? What if something goes wrong? What if I mess up and get last place and I’ve failed myself and my bandmates and everyone that has ever supported me? What if-“ his spiraling words are stopped when he is turned by his shoulders and forced to face Viktor. 

“Listen to me. You are amazing. You and all the boys have been working so hard since the moment you signed up. You have put so much time, effort, and love into your music and performances. Do not doubt for a second if you’re good enough for this because you definitely are. You are better than any band competing today. Mine included,” Yuuri chuckles at that, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. Viktor smiles at sound before continuing. “I’m serious, though. Katsudon may be a newer band but you guys have already made your stamp on the local music scene and I can’t wait to see where you go. And, I promise to be right by your side through it all.”

Tears started collecting in Yuuri’s eyes as he let the words set in his mind. Viktor’s eyes were something fierce as he spoke his truth, gaze unwavering from Yuuri’s as he did. It left Yuuri breathless and feeling that same feeling he felt every time he met Viktor’s intense gaze. He didn’t quite put a label on it yet, scared to admit to himself what it was.

Once Yuuri realized Viktor was done, he surged forward with a passionate kiss, feeling like he had no other way to properly convey his emotions in that moment. Viktor tensed for a moment, not expecting the kiss, before wrapping his arms back around Yuuri’s waist and kissing back in earnest. In that moment, nothing but those two mattered. They stayed like that, lips moving against each other until someone spoke up. 

“Get a room, lovebirds,” Chris shouted at the couple, laughing right after with the rest of Ice Adolescence and Katsudon. Viktor flipped off his bandmate and best friend as the two slowly pulled apart, smiles gracing their lips. 

“Thank you, Viktor,” Yuuri kisses him again quickly. 

“Anything for you, Yuuri. Now, let’s get inside and sign in before these pervs start filming us for their enjoyment.” Yuuri cackles before reluctantly pulling away and taking Viktor’s hand in his. He turns to the rest of his band. 

“Let’s go!” 

————————

“Welcome to the 2020 NYU _Battle of the Bands_!” Minako yells into the microphone, causing the crowd to erupt. There were at least 200 people all crammed into the space. “I am your lovely host, Minako Okukawa. Today marks night one of this weekend long event! Some of your favorite bands from our local band scene are going to compete for the title of Best Band in New York!” More cheers and applause boom through the space. 

“Now, time to explain the rules to all you newcomers. The way we work things here is, each day, bands will perform for scores. The scores will be determined by our lovely judges sitting in front of the stage. A couple of ground rules before we begin for both audience members and band members. One, we will not tolerate hate of any kind in the basis of sexuality, gender identity, or race. If i hear any of that shit, you’re getting the hell out and you’re disqualified if you are participating. This is an inclusive and safe area for everyone, except assholes like you. Two, please be respectful of those around you. We are no longer doing mosh pits, not after last year's fiasco. Finally, have fun and rock on!” The crowd goes wild after Minako finishes speaking. 

Yuuri was trying to calm his nerves as he paced back and forth in the warm up room. The first band of the day was playing while the band following was getting set up. His band was third to perform, Viktor going fifth today. His earlier nerves were starting to come back, making him wring his hands and scratch his arm, one of his more destructive habits. Phichit, Leo, and Ji were worried about him so Phichit ran out to get Viktor while Leo and Ji tried to get him to drink water and take deep breaths. 

“Dude we’re gonna kill it today! This song is absolutely amazing and people are gonna love it,” Leo encouraged. 

“What Leo said. We’ve worked so hard the last few months and we are ready for this,” Ji said calmly. The boys were used to Yuuri’s nerves and anxiety but this was to a new extreme. They could tell he was starting to spiral and they wouldn’t be able to help on their own. 

In that moment, Viktor and Phichit come back into the room, Viktor immediately moving to Yuuri's side, taking his hands into his own to stop the scratching. 

“Yuuri, honey, please look at me,” Viktor softly speaks. Yuuri slowly looks up at him, tears and running makeup staining his face. Viktor reaches up and wipes away the tears with a soft hand before cupping Yuuri’s face. “You’ve got this. You are gonna go out there and perform that new song and you are going to kill it. Because you are Yuuri Katsuki and that is what you do. And I'll be on the side of the stage watching you and cheering the loudest. Now, breathe with me, okay?”

Yuuri nods, closes his eyes, and takes deep breaths with Viktor, allowing his closeness bring some peace as well. Viktor doesn’t stop breathing with Yuuri until all the tears are dried and his breathing finally evens out. Once Yuuri finally opens his eyes again, he’s met with the softest smile on Viktor. 

“Thank you, Viktor.”

Viktor leans down slightly and lightly kisses Yuuri’s lips. “Anytime, my love. Now, let’s go clean your face and fix your makeup because it’s about time for you to start setting up.” 

Yuuri nods before standing up, a little shaky from the panic attack. He takes the water offered to him, gulping the whole thing down. He walks over to the mirror, picking up a makeup wipe to clean up the makeup running down his face. He picks his eyeliner up and reapplies it, adding mascara. He adds a layer of lip gloss to his lips before turning around, facing his band and boyfriend. He takes one more deep breath. 

“Let’s go.” 

The boys of Katsudon all whoop and scream before leaving the room, leaving just Viktor and Yuuri. Their eyes lock for a moment before Viktor walks up to Yuuri, planting another kiss on his lips, a little deeper than the last one. Yuuri pulls away breathless. 

“Go kill it, Yuuri,” Yuuri smiles up at his boyfriend before intertwining his fingers and leaving the warm up room and heading backstage. 

Once backstage, Minako is standing there, helping Phichit get his mic on. Just as she finishes up, she turns her head and sees Yuuri with Viktor. She gasps and puts her hands to her mouth. “Oh my god, Yuuri! Come here!”

Yuuri let’s go of Viktor’s hand and walks over to his old mentor and friend, giving her a hug. It had been a while since they’d seen each other. As they pull away, Yuuri smiles down at the slightly smaller woman. 

“Hey, Minako, it’s nice to see you.”

“It’s about damn time I saw you back here during this damn competition instead of in the crowd. I can’t wait to see what you guys have prepared.”

Yuuri blushes slightly at Minako. “Yeah, yeah. Um, really quick, I wanna introduce you to someone,” he looks back at Viktor who walks up and takes Yuuri’s hand once again, “I know you’ve met him but, Minako, this is Viktor. My boyfriend.”

Minako looks back and forth between them, grin growing wider by the second. “No fucking way. You managed to snatch Viktor Nikiforov?” she smirks at the blushing Japanese boy, “Look at my little Yuuri, snatching the hottest bachelor in the NYU band scene. Way to fucking go!”

Viktor laughs while Yuuri attempts to bury his head into Viktor’s arm, utterly embarrassed and regretting his decision.

“Well, thank you, Minako. Yuuri is really special and I was so happy when he said yes to a date.”

“Wait, you’re telling me you asked him? He didn’t just finally stalk you enough to coax you into a date?” Minako laughs. 

“Minako! I never stalked him!” Yuuri screams. Viktor starts laughing next to him, unable to contain it.

“Oh honey, I know. I’m just giving you a hard time,” her smile turns fond, “I’m happy for you. You look happy with him. Now, enough chit-chat, it’s almost time for you to go on!” Minako leaves the couple before heading back on stage. “Give it up for Ice Tiger! One of the newest bands in the scene!”

Yuuri nods before leaning over and pressing a kiss to Viktor’s lips. 

“Good luck, Yuuri. I’ll be here, cheering you on.”

Yuuri just smiles wide before heading over to grab his guitar. He slipped the strap over his head and settled it on his shoulders, looking back to Viktor one last time, Viktor sending a wink his way. Yuuri blushes just as Minako starts speaking again.

“Now, it is with great pleasure to allow this next band on stage. It’s their first year in the competition but, in less than a year since forming, they have definitely earned their place up here. Give it up for Katsudon!” 

The applause that follows somehow makes all of the fears and anxiety that Yuuri had been feeling fade away, filled only with confidence. He walks out first, Phichit following, Ji and Leo right behind them. They each get to their respective places before Yuuri speaks into the microphone in front of him. 

“Hey there guys!” the crowd starts to cheer, causing Yuuri to smile a bit, “We are Katsudon and for today, we are singing a new song, actually. I wrote this to debut today. It’ll be released on Monday, if you enjoy it. It’s called ‘[Prayer X](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLkzla5toLQ&list=PLthScsG2hlDXP4JUzgnbaTFT9hGZhTuik&index=2)’.” He looks over and nods to the rest of the band before he starts singing. 

_afuredashita namida no you ni_

_hitotoki no kirameku inochi naraba_

_deai to wakare wo_

_kurikaesu hibi no naka de_

_ittai zentai nani wo shinjireba ii?_

Yuuri starts the guitar solo, turning to Leo who was on drums, banging their heads together. The crowd was already going wild for the new song, cheering and screaming up at them. Yuuri turns back to the mic just in time for him to start singing with Phichit.

_umareochita_

_sono toki ni wa_

_nakiwameiteita_

_ubawarenai you ni_

_kutabaranai you ni_

_ikiru no ga seiippai da_

_mune ni sasatta naifu wo_

_nukezu ni iru no._

_nuita sono shunkan_

_shibuki wo agete_

_namida ga fukidasu deshou?_

_afuredashita namida no you ni_

_hitotoki no kirameku inochi naraba_

_deai to wakare wo_

_kurikaesu hibi no naka de_

_ittai zentai nani wo shinjireba ii?_

Yuuri steps away from the mic once again to play the guitar line. As he plays, he glances to the side of the stage where Viktor is still standing, head banging and long hair moving with. Yuuri smiles and shoots him a wink before singing again.

_kuttaku no nai egao no ura,_

_kakushiteita_

_ikiru tame no uso ga_

_mohaya hontou ka uso ka_

_wakaranakute_

_jibun no ibasho de sae mo_

_miushinatte iru no_

_ikari ni nomarete_

_hikari ni akogarete_

_kyou mo sora wo nagameru no deshou_

_kono jinsei ni_

_imi ga aru no nara_

_oshiete yo_

_moroku, hakanai hibi no naka de_

_itami ya kanashimi sae mo_

_nomihoshita ima, bokura wa_

_ittai zentai nani wo shinjireba ii?_

_afuredashita namida no you ni_

_hitotoki no kirameku inochi naraba_

_deai to wakare wo_

_kurikaesu hibi no naka de_

_ittai zentai nani wo shinjireba ii?_

Yuuri adlibs some final notes both with his voice and guitar as they play the ending of the song. They all finish at the same time, taking a moment to breathe as the crowd erupts in applause and cheers. Minako comes out on stage after a moment.

“Give it up one more time for Katusdon! What talent!” the crowd cheers one more time before quieting down, “Now, time for the judges score.”

The group of 5 people all dressed head to toe in leather and chains that are sat in front of the stage take a moment to talk quietly amongst themselves before handing a piece of paper to Minako. She takes a look at it before smiling back out to the crowd and bringing the microphone back to her lips.

“And the judges score is a twenty-seven,” Yuuri gasps at that number, not believing his band actually scored that high, “putting Katsudon in first place! Congratulations, guys! Go rest up and we’ll see you tomorrow.”

The crowd screams and cheers as Yuuri and the rest of Katsudon walk off the stage, the boys all embracing each other as they do.

“Dude! A fucking twenty-seven! For our first song!” Leo exclaims once they’re backstage. He picks up Ji and kisses him, a squeal falling from the smaller boy's lips at the suddenness. 

Yuuri’s smile is bigger than anyone has seen as he runs off from his band and finds Viktor, who is already waiting with open arms. Viktor picks up Yuuri and spins him around, causing the boy to giggle. Yuuri is set down after a moment but is soon being kissed by Viktor, eyes going wide before relaxing into it. Their lips move against each other for a moment before Viktor breaks it.

“You were fantastic out there! Oh, I knew you were good but seeing you full on perform like that? Hottest thing I’ve ever seen.” Yuuri blushes hard at Vitkor’s compliments but doesn’t break eye contact with him.

“Thank you, Vitya. I can’t believe my score is as high as it is!”

“Oh, I sure can. You killed it out there,” Viktor steps closer, eyes lowering and hands dropping down to Yuuri’s waist, “I couldn’t take my eyes off of you.”

Yuuri feels like he can’t breathe as he watches Viktor’s eyes dilate slightly. He tries to swallow the massive lump in his throat but it does nothing. He’s breathing picks up slightly as he looks back down at Viktor’s lips. 

“I hope you never take your eyes off of me,” Yuuri admits, voice barely above a whisper. He looks back up into Viktor’s striking blue eyes. 

“Trust me, I don’t ever want to.” Viktor leans down and claims Yuuri’s lips in a more heated kiss, tightening his grip on his waist. Yuuri let’s a small whimper out, holding on tight to Viktor’s biceps. Viktor swipes his tongue over Yuuri’s lips, asking for permission to enter. Yuuri happily opens up, allowing the kiss to deepen further. 

“Oi! Viktor! It’s almost our turn!” Georgi yells to the couple. Viktor groans against Yuuri’s lips and reluctantly separates them. 

“I’m coming!” Viktor turns and yells back to his bandmate. He turns back to Yuuri and smiles down. “Be here when I'm done?”

Yuuri smirks slightly. “I could never leave you.”

“Good,” Viktor leans down and kisses Yuuri one more time, letting it linger the smallest bit, before heading over to Minako and his band. 

Within a few minutes, Minako is going out and getting the scores for the previous band. Viktor walks over to the stage wing and shakes all of the lasting nerves one last time before turning back to Yuuri with a soft smile. Yuuri smiles back, blowing a kiss. He laughs softly when Viktor catches it and places it at his heart. 

“Now, let’s give a massive welcome to our three year winner, one of your favorites, Ice Adolescence!” Minako announces. Viktor saunters out first with the rest of the band following. He’s got a genuine smile on his face as he does, one that hasn’t graced his face in such a long time. 

“Hello, again, Battle of the Bands!” Viktor cheers once he’s at the microphone. The crowd erupts, screaming and cheering, probably the loudest it’s been all day. “It’s lovely to be back! We are excited to perform one of our all time favorites for you today, ‘[Kill the Director](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVssCPuEzbM&list=PLthScsG2hlDXP4JUzgnbaTFT9hGZhTuik&index=12)’!” 

The crowd goes wild as Chris and Michele start the song. Viktor bounces and dances to the music, starting to get into it. Just before he sings, he looks over to where Yuuri stands in the wings. He smiles as he sings the lyrics directly to him. 

_I've met someone that makes me feel seasick_

_Oh, what a skill to have, oh, what a skill to have_

_So, many skills that makes him distinctive_

_But they're not mine to have, no, they're not mine_

_Whenever he looks I read the nearest paper_

_No, I don't care about the soaps_

_No, I don't care about the soaps_

_Though I'm acting like I'm in an EastEnders episode_

  
  


_If this is a rom-com_

_Kill the director_

_If this is a rom-com_

_Kill the director, please_

_Carrots help us see much better in the dark_

_Don't talk to girls, they'll break your heart_

_And this is my head and this is my spout_

_They work together, they can't figure anything out_

_So, with the angst of a teenage band_

_Here's another song about a gender I'll never understand_

_Here's another song about a gender I'll never understand_

_If this is a rom-com_

_Kill the director_

_If this is a rom-com_

_Kill the director_

_If this is a rom-com_

_Kill the director, please_

“Now, guys, it’s your turn! When I sing ‘Bridget, Bridget’ sing back ‘Kill the director’! Got it?” The crowd cheers in understanding and Viktor beams.

“All right then! One, two. A-one, two, three-“

_This is no Bridget Jones_

_This is no Bridget, Bridget (Kill the director)_

_This is no Bridget Jones_

_This is no Bridget, Bridget (Kill the director)_

_This is no Bridget Jones_

_This is no Bridget, Bridget (Kill the director)_

_This is no Bridget Jones_

_This is no Bridget, Bridget (Kill the director)_

_This is no Bridget Jones_

_This is no Bridget, Bridget (Kill the director)_

_This is no Bridget Jones_

_This is no Bridget, Bridget (Kill the director)_

_This is no Bridget Jones_

_This is no Bridget, Bridget Jones_

Chris strums out the last few notes and the crowd breaks out into cheers for the band. Minako struts out onto the stage. 

“Give it up one more time for the three-year winners, Ice Adolescence!” The crowd screams and claps for them. “Now, the judges score.”

The five judges are quick with their score, passing it up to Minako as Viktor and the boys all stand huddled together waiting. Minako looks up and smiles. 

“A score of twenty-five from the judges! Putting you guys currently in second place behind Katsudon!”

The crowd cheers the boys off the stage, Viktor waving at all of them. He is immediately encased in Yuuri’s arms. 

“Oh my god! You killed that! I can’t even get over how good that was!” Yuuri reaches up and captures Viktor’s lips in a kiss, teeth clashing slightly from the force. They stay there for a moment before having to separate for air.

“Thank you. I think that’s the best I’ve performed in a while,” Viktor smiles down at his boyfriend, “All thanks to you.”

Yuuri blushes deep red at the compliment, “Whatever, come on. Phichit wants to get dinner and I’m inviting you and the rest of Ice Adolescence. If you can find him, Yurio is also welcome to come with Otabek!”

“Well I can‘t say no to dinner with my handsome boyfriend. I’ll give Yurio a call.”

——————————

Plates were emptied and laughs were to be had around the table in the restaurant. All the members of Ice Adolescence, Katsudon, and Ice Tiger were sitting around, talking and laughing together after their first successful night of the _Battle of the Bands._

“It’s crazy to think that this time last year, we were all just fans of Ice Adolescence,” Phichit says, “Now, here we are, eating dinner with them. I mean, shit, Yuuri is finally dating his long time crush!”

“Phichit!” Yuuri exclaims, face going red. The rest of the table laughs and Viktor puts an arm around Yuuri’s shoulder, placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

“Long time crush? That’s cute. I’ll admit, I’d found you beautiful since the moment I met you,” Viktor practically purrs. 

“Yeah but that’s only been for a few months. I’ve literally had a crush on you since like freshman year of college.” Viktor chokes on his drink. 

“Wait you really don’t remember the first time we met?” Viktor asks, calming down. 

“How could he? He was so wasted on Long Island iced teas, he could hardly remember his pants,” Chris chuckles from his side of the table. 

“Wait, what?” Yuuri questions, eyebrows pinching together.

Yurio is the first to speak up, “Last year. Battle of the Bands after party. You were there and got plastered and started dancing with anything that moved, including your darling Viktor.”

“What?! I did what?!” Yuuri exclaims. 

“Yeah, you even started stripping, saying you wanted to show off your tattoos to Viktor,” Phichit laughs. 

“Oh my god please someone say that this is a lie. I’m going to die from embarrassment,” Yuuri puts his head into his hands, trying to hide.

“Oh but why, my love? It is how I was able to find you in the first place,” Viktor coos in Yuuri’s ear.

“I know but it’s still embarrassing.”

“Well, I’m glad it happened or else I never would have found you.”

“Viktor?” Someone says from behind him. Viktor immediately tenses at that voice, back going rigid. He sees Chris, Michele, and Georgi all glare up at the person behind him. He slowly turns around, glaring daggers at the person behind him.

“JJ. Why are you here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, not fucking JJ  
> Thanks for reading!  
> Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ucxq9e9XPAFpzBIJf2q1I?si=e0T-qD5pSV6WheaNvhuEGw  
> Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/battle-of-the-bands-yoi-band-au/pl.u-06oxDggFWEY3gyN


	9. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Day 2! But first, what does JJ want?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Welcome back! I am so sorry this chapter took so long to get up. I have been super busy doing a show and working but here it finally is! I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> also! i changed the lyrics for one of the songs so there obviously isn't really a good version to link so i'm just gonna link the original
> 
> small trigger warning for abuse. it is only briefly mentioned and then not brought up again.

“JJ. Why are you here?” Viktor bites at the man standing in front of him. He could feel the anger boiling up, threatening to spill over. Yuuri looks over at his partner, curious as to who this was and why Viktor was so hostile towards him.

“I got wind you would be here after today’s shows and wanted to say hi,” JJ says in a voice that faked kindness. To an outsider, JJ just seemed like a nice guy catching up with friends. To Viktor, he was anything but.

“Well, you said hi. Now go please. I’m trying to enjoy a meal with my friends and _boyfriend_ ,” Viktor put a bit more emphasis on the word than was necessary but was hoping it would get JJ to leave.

JJ looks over to Yuuri who is sitting next to Viktor, still with a confused look on his face. JJ’s smirk is slightly menacing as he speaks, “Oh, you finally got a new boy toy? Has he got a song yet?”

“Not that it matters to you really but yes. He does,” Viktor looks over to Yuuri’s shocked face, “I’ll show it to you later. It’s a surprise.”

“Awwww how cute,” JJ mocked, “the two lovebirds. Viktor’s written a song for him. How _fucking_ cute.”

“I’ll ask again: what the hell do you want? You’ve said hi. Is there something else?” Viktor snaps.

“Like I said, just wanted to say hi. I watched you guys perform today and figured it’d be okay,” JJ looks over to Yuuri with a hard glare, “Hope you enjoy sloppy seconds. Because he sure is fucking sloppy.”

“JJ,” Chris cuts in, “Now is not the time nor the place. Pack it up and get the hell out. Or I’ll shove your ass out myself.”

“Yeah get fucking lost, you prick. You’re just a jealous meathead who realises what he lost,” Georgi pipes up next to Chris. Yuuri couldn’t believe what was happening. He genuinely had never seen any of them this angry, especially not at one person.

“Okay, geez. I’ll go,” JJ gets unnecessarily close to Viktor before speaking again, “Can’t wait to see what you sing tomorrow.”

JJ and Viktor have almost a staring contest for a moment, Viktor glaring daggers. _If only looks could kill…_

JJ finally turns to leave the restaurant and Viktor lets go of the breath he’d been holding. He closes his eyes, trying to concentrate on his breathing, trying to calm his angry thoughts and erratic heart. He’s startled slightly at the feeling of someone taking his hand in theirs. Eyes opening, he looks down to see Yuuri’s hand encasing his own. It’s a tense moment before anyone speaks.

“Who the hell was that and what the hell just happened?” Phichit questions.

Viktor takes one more deep breath before finding the voice to speak again. “That was my ex boyfriend, Jean-Jaques Leroy, or JJ. The biggest prick that still somehow had the smallest dick.”

Chris chuckles at the joke, “No kidding. Who the hell does he think he is just coming up to you like that?”

Viktor scoffs and rolls his eyes, as if Chris just said the most ridiculous statement, “It’s JJ. He thinks everything revolves around him and hates when it doesn’t,” he looks down at his hands, starting to fiddle with them, “Which is why we broke up.”

“What do you mean?” Yuuri asks softly, setting a hand over Viktor’s to stop the fiddling. 

“JJ was upset when we started getting kinda popular and were practicing more, which meant I wasn’t giving him my undivided attention,” Viktor scoffs, “He even tried to accuse me of cheating on him with Chris, of all fucking people.”

“Dude started becoming obsessed with Viktor,” Chris continues, “He’d force him to leave rehearsals early, even if we had a show coming up or recording session the next day. JJ caused so much tension between us.”

“Eventually, he and I got into this massive fight about the band,” Viktor’s voice starts to shake as he continues the retelling, “I told him he couldn’t dictate every single thing I do with my life and he snapped on me. He screamed ‘it’s me or the band then.’ At the time, it was hard because I did love and care about him but he didn’t seem to reciprocate. Seemed like he wanted a loyal servant instead of a significant other. So, I broke up with him.”

Viktor doesn’t realize tears are running down his face until he feels Yuuri wipe them away softly. He looks up into the sweet chocolate of his eyes, seeing the love and sorrow in them. He leans into the touch of Yuuri’s hand before speaking again.

“He continued to scream at me, called me an ungrateful whore. He said I wouldn’t amount to anything,” Viktor takes a steadying breath before admitting, “He hit me,” he could hear Yuuri gasp but didn’t stop. He held all this in, it was time to release it, ”The moment that happened, I froze up and told him to leave and never come back. And that’s exactly what he did.”

Viktor looks up again, seeing everyone at the table look at him, all with different emotions gracing their faces. Surprisingly, Leo is the first to speak up.

“Who’s leading the murder brigade? I’ll bring the shovels.”

That causes everyone at the tables to chuckle slightly, some tension leaving their bodies. Viktor sends a grateful smile Leo’s way, getting a soft one back. Viktor feels Yuuri’s hand tighten in his, causing him to look over.

“JJ is wrong in so many ways,” Yuuri starts, “You are a beautiful, fantastic, loving person who does nothing but help others and gives their heart so willingly. The fact that he put his hands on you makes me want to go running after him and rip his asshole in two. He doesn’t realize what treasure he left behind,” Yuuri caresses Viktor’s cheek. Viktor can’t stop the deep blush and wide smile that grows on his face as he brings his hand up to the one in his face.

“I love you,” Viktor says before realizing it. Yuuri gasps as does the rest of the table. Viktor’s eyes go wide, realizing he just said that in front of everyone. He started to get worried that Yuuri didn’t feel the same, realizing how soon it was, too. He goes to pull away, trying to apologize but Yuuri just pulls him into a deep kiss. They stay interlocked for a moment, foreheads touching as they pull away.

“I love you, too. I have since our first date,” Yuuri admits. Viktor smiles before leaning back in for a soft kiss. 

“Ugh we get it you guys love each other,” Yurio pipes in, trying to sound angry but Viktor knew he was happy for them, “Let’s all go home. We’ve got an early day tomorrow.” 

The rest of the table reluctantly agrees and everyone gets up, going to pay for their food. Viktor and Yuuri stay behind the group, standing together with their hands linked. Viktor pays for their food before leading them out of the restaurant. Once out, Yuuri turns to him to speak.

“I meant what I said in there. The moment I saw you on our first date, I fell in love.”

Viktor looks into Yuuri’s eyes, seeing the nerves present in them. He smiles softly before cupping Yuuri’s cheek. “Oh, my love. I’m almost certain I fell in love with you at the pizza parlor.”

Yuuri’s smile is wide as he leans up and presses his lips to Viktor’s. Viktor happily accepts the kiss, sighing into it. This is what actual and true love felt like. 

“Do you, um, wanna stay with me tonight? We can go to the venue together tomorrow?” Yuuri asks, nervous once again.

“I’d love nothing more. Plus, I need your help with something for the show tomorrow.”

—————————

The next day of the _Battle of the Bands_ was in full swing with a crowd bigger than the day before. Backstage was a madhouse as people were preparing for today’s performances. With this new day brought new confidence for some. For others, it brought new nerves. One of those being Viktor.

Ever since the events of last night’s dinner, he’s been slightly on edge, knowing JJ was going to be in the crowd. He knew JJ was doing it to throw him off somehow and it was starting to work. Viktor was performing “Sk8er Boy” today, aka the song he wrote about JJ after they broke up. This song normally brought him so much confidence, recognizing how much he grew from that break up. It was different when the reason for the song was sitting in the crowd.

Viktor continued to let his thoughts race as he sat in one of the couches in the backstage area, waiting to go to the warmup room. Every single one of his bandmates had tried to talk to him, see where his head was but he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t get the words out. He kept letting JJ’s words from the night of the breakup get to him, wondering if JJ was actually right. Maybe Viktor should just stop. Maybe he wasn’t good enough for this anymore. Maybe Yuuri would see that, too, and leave him. That thought made Viktor’s stomach turn and tears started to prick at his eyes. Suddenly all of the sounds and noises and everything was getting to be too much for him. He looked up to see Chris in front of him, not having noticed him before.

“Viktor? Are you okay?” Viktor can only muster a shake of his head, “What do you need?”

“Yuuri,” Viktor breathes out, voice sounding far from him. Chris nods and is immediately up, trying to find Yuuri. He finds the Japanese boy by the food and drinks station grabbing a bottle of water. Hearing someone walk behind him, Yuuri turns around and smiles when he sees Chris.

“Hey, Chris! Ready for today?”

Chris ignores the question to say, “Viktor needs you. It’s pretty bad.” Yuuri’s eyes go wide as he follows Chris to where Viktor is sitting, hands scratching slightly at his arm. Viktor doesn’t notice when Yuuri is there so Yuuri walks right in front of him and crouches down, taking Viktor’s hands into his own to stop the scratching. That catches Viktor’s attention, looking up into Yuuri’s concerned eyes.

“Vitya, love, what’s wrong? Do you need anything? Water?” Yuuri asks softly, gaze never breaking from Viktor’s.

“Everything… everything is t-too lo-loud,” Viktor stutters out, tears falling from his eyes. Yuuri immediately had him stand up and had an arm wrapped around him, leading him out the backdoors. Once they were outside, Viktor began to sob violently, his shoulders shaking from the intensity. Yuuri sat them down on the ground, mindful of any trash or debris. He continued to hold his crying partner, whispering calming words.

“I’m right here, Vitya. When you’re ready, tell me what’s going on. I love you. I’ll be right here.”

Viktor continued to sob, slowly starting to calm from Yuuri’s words and the hand Yuuri was stroking through his long hair. He began to take deep breaths, breathing in Yuuri’s soft scent from his lavender body wash. Yuuri started to hum, Viktor not entirely hearing what the song was. He let Yuuri’s soothing voice wash over him, calming him quickly. He finally felt like he could pull away, looking Yuuri in the eyes. The first thing he saw was love and worry. Yuuri leaned forward and lightly kissed Viktor’s tear-stained cheek. 

“I’m sorry,” was the first thing Viktor was able to croak out.

“For what, love?”

“For worrying you. For breaking down. For not being enough,” Viktor says that last sentence in a whispered tone, almost hoping Yuuri wouldn’t hear it. But, ever the listener, Yuuri heard it, which caused his eyebrows to furrow in confusion.

“What makes you think you’re not enough?”

Viktor looks down, ashamed, as he answers, “JJ. I can’t get his words out of my head. All I hear is ‘You can’t do this. You’re not good enough. Just quit.’ What if he was right? What if I’m not enough? What if you decide to leave me?” His breath starts to get shaky again. 

“Vitya, love, breathe please,” Yuuri takes deep breaths, helping to guide Viktor. Once he thinks the other’s breathing has calmed once again, he speaks again, “Listen to me and listen to me closely: I will not leave you. You are good enough. You are more than enough every single day, especially on that damn stage. You put your everything into each of your songs. I love every single thing about you. Do not let JJ get into your head because he is not worth it. He was the one who was blinded by his own inflated ego to see your talents. That’s on him, not you. Listen to the one that loves you, not the one who so clearly wants to see you fail.”

Viktor stares into Yuuri’s intense gaze, fully taking in every word he was saying. Yuuri wouldn’t lie just to make Viktor feel better. The tears that had dried started flowing freely again, another sob leaving Viktor’s lips. Yuuri pulls his partner into his arms, holding him close as he cries out all of his fears. He understood this mindset, feeling like no matter what the people that loved you said, you couldn’t get the words of people that wanted to see you fail out of your head. Those words seemed to stick more. 

Viktor’s sobs finally seemed to calm, turning into ragged breathing. Yuuri ran his hand through his long silver locks as he continued to try and calm Viktor down even more. Once Viktor’s breathing finally calmed, he was the first to pull away, looking at Yuuri with red-rimmed eyes and tear stained cheeks.

“Thank you, Yuuri. I’m sorry you had to deal with me like this but thank you.”  
  
“It is no problem, my love. I will always be here for you,” Yuuri leans forward and kisses Viktor chastley. Once he pulls away, he looks straight into Viktor’s eyes and smiles, “Now, it’s time for you to go meet your band to warm-up. I’ll be not too far from you. You are gonna kill that song today and you’re gonna show JJ just how amazing you are and how much you deserve to do what you love.”

Viktor finally smiles, the first one all day. He leans forward to kiss his lover, a little deeper than before, then stands with him to head inside. His bandmates are all already in the warm-up room, talking amongst themselves. The conversation stops once Viktor walks in and their eyes all fall onto him. 

Viktor smirk slowly rises to his lips before saying, “Who’s ready to fucking rock this and piss off JJ?”

The boys all cheer, absolutely thrilled to see that their lead singer was doing better, ready for the show. They all get up and hug Viktor, Viktor laughing and hugging back. Honestly, he doesn’t know where he would be without these guys. 

————————

Standing backstage, waiting to go on, Viktor started to feel some of those nerves, again. He didn’t think anyone could tell until he felt Yuuri turn him around and take Viktor’s hands into his own. 

“You’re gonna kill this. I know it,” Yuuri leans up and kisses Viktor softly. 

“Thank you,” Viktor whispers out in their shared space. They break apart once Minako starts speaking on stage. 

“Congrats on that fantastic score! Now let’s give it up for this next band, everyone’s favorite, Ice Adolescence!”

Viktor quickly pecks Yuuri’s lips before running onto stage, a wide smile on his face. He scans the crowd quickly once at the microphone, quickly finding where JJ was standing. Viktor was ready to give that asshole a performance he’d never forget. 

“Hello, Battle of the Bands!” The crowd erupts in cheers, “We are Ice Adolescence and today, we’re gonna be singing a favorite of many fans and a personal favorite, ‘Sk8er Boy’. Before we start, I think it’s time I finally explain this song to you guys. See, I wrote this song after a nasty breakup a couple of years ago, once we started gaining some popularity. This person told me I wouldn’t amount to anything with my music. Look how fucking dumb they look now,” the crowd all cheer for Viktor as he laughs, “So, JJ, hope you don’t fucking enjoy this song. I decided to fix it up to finally show people exactly how I feel,” Viktor flips off the crowd as Chris starts on the guitar, the entire band getting hype for this song. He worked on a rewritten version with Yuuri the night before that finally shows the true nature of the past relationship.

_They were both boys_

_Not one of them girls_

_Can I make it any more obvious?_

_He was a punk_

_Didn’t know ballet_

_What more can I say?_

_He wanted him_

_He'd never tell_

_Secretly he wanted him to fail_

_And all of his friends_

_Stuck up their nose_

_They had a problem with his darker clothes_

_He was a skater boy_

_He said, "see you later, boy"_

_He wasn't good enough for him_

_He had a pretty face_

_But needed put in his place_

_He needed to come back down to earth_

Viktor jams out for a minute, looking over to the side of the stage where Yuuri was standing, a huge smile on his face. Viktor reciprocates it as the intro to the next verse hits.

_Two years from now_

_He sits at home_

_Scrolling through Twitter, he’s all alone_

_He turns to IG_

_Guess who she sees_

_Skater boy rockin' up NYC_

_He calls up his friends_

_They already know_

_And they've all got tickets to see his show_

_He tags along_

_Stands in the crowd_

_Looks up at the man that he turned down_

_He was a skater boy_

_He said, "see you later, boy"_

_He wasn't good enough for him_

_Now he's a superstar_

_Slammin' on his guitar_

_Does your pretty face see what he's worth?_

_He was a skater boy_

_He said, "see you later, boy"_

_He wasn't good enough for him_

_Now he's a superstar_

_Slammin' on his guitar_

_Does your pretty face see what he's worth?_

Viktor walked back to Chris, who was shredding out a guitar solo between, jamming with him for a moment. He smiles as Chris does, looking at him. Viktor jumps back to place in front of the mic stand. 

_Sorry, boy, but you missed out_

_Well, tough, luck that boy's fine now_

_He has more than just good friends_

_This is how the story ends_

_Too bad that you couldn't see_

_See the man that boy could be_

_There is more than meets the eye_

_Should see the soul that is inside_

Viktor looks out into the crowd at that line, looking directly at JJ. He sees JJ’s face stone-cold, brows knitted in anger. It causes Viktor to smirk as he continues to the end of the song.

_He's just a boy_

_Not yours anymore_

_Can I make it any more obvious?_

_He’s now in love_

_Plus, haven't you heard_

_How we rock the whole damn world_

_I am the skater boy_

_I said, "see you later, boy"_

_I'll be back stage after the show_

_I'll be at the studio_

_Singing the song I wrote_

_About a boy I used to know_

_I am the skater boy_

_I said, "see you later, boy"_

_I'll be back stage after the show_

_I'll be at the studio_

_Singing the song I wrote_

_About a boy I used to know_

As Chris plucks out the last notes on the guitar, the crowd erupts. Viktor pants as he feels the weight of the song and everything he’d been feeling fall from his tense shoulders. He hadn’t realized how much pent up anger and hurt he still held from that relationship until now. He looked out to the crowd again, seeing that JJ was finally gone, ego bruised. 

Minako walks gracefully onto stage in her gorgeous red dress for today, a small smirk on her face. She puts her hand on Viktor’s shoulder as she speaks into the microphone. 

“Well that was quite the performance, wasn’t it?” The crowd cheers at her question, “I love to see how therapeutic music can be and performing especially. There is no place in this scene for people that try to bring others down. So, let’s give one more big round of applause for Ice Adolescence.”

The crowd whoops and cheers up to the stage. Viktor feels tears starting to form behind his eyes again, overwhelmed by the support he’s feeling. He notices his bandmates coming up behind him, Chris wrapping his arms around Viktor in a friendly and warm hug. 

“Now, the judges scores,” She leans down to collect the form from the judge, “A twenty-eight! Congratulations, Ice Adolescence. I believe that puts you in first place!”

Viktor couldn’t be bothered to care about the score, just happy he finally felt free. He couldn’t hear what anyone was saying as he was dragged off the stage, a wide smile plastered on his face. Viktor was immediately encased in Yuuri’s arms once backstage, feeing his boyfriend bury his face into Viktor’s neck. 

“I’m so proud of you, Vitya. You absolutely killed that. I love you so much,” Yuuri says into Viktor’s neck. Viktor can feel the tears starting to form again at Yuuri’s loving words. He finally let a few slip down his face as he buried his own face into Yuuri.

“I don’t think I’d have the strength without you. Thank you.”

Yuuri pulls away and cradles Viktor’s face in his hands, wiping away the tears with his thumbs. 

“You had the strength yourself. You just needed someone there to support you. Which I will always do.”

Viktor smiled softly before leaning down and kissing Yuuri softly. “Thank you.”

They all had some time to kill before Katsudon needed to go on considering they were the last band of the day, so everyone decided to stand on the edge of the stage and cheer for Yuri and Otabek. Viktor kept an arm wrapped around Yuuri’s waist, basking in the physical touch after an insanely emotional performance. Yuuri had an arm wrapped around Viktor as well, tracing small circles on the small strip of skin that was exposed at the bottom of his shirt. They were content standing there together, a comfortable silence between them. Yuuri was the one to break their silence. 

“So, I’m singing ‘ocean eyes’ today.”

Viktor looks down to Yuuri with a slight scrunch in his brows, slightly confused. Yuuri had already told Viktor his set list a few weeks after they got together, so he was confused as to why Yuuri was bringing it up again.

“I wanna say it’s about you. I want to tell the crowd about us,” Yuuri looked over to meet Viktor’s eyes, “Only if you’re okay with it.”

Warmth bloomed in Viktor’s chest at the declaration from Yuuri. While the two had been very open about their still newer relationship to all of their friends and bandmates, they hadn’t exactly told fans yet. They both agreed to wait a little bit, at least until they both felt ready. 

Viktor had been ready to tell the fans for a while but knew Yuuri was still nervous. So, Viktor waited and never pressured him. Viktor would wait forever for Yuuri.

“Of course I’m okay with it! I was, honestly, waiting for you to be ready. I didn’t want to pressure you,” Viktor leans down and presses a soft kiss to Yuuri’s lips.

Yuuri looks up to Viktor with a shocked expression, “You were waiting for me?”

“Yes. I didn’t want you to feel pressured to tell people. I wanted this to be entirely on your terms,” Viktor looks into Yuuri’s soft eyes, attempting to show the other all of his emotions. 

Yuuri surges forward and kisses Viktor hard but with no heat, only love and appreciation. It felt like the only thing he knew how to do at that moment. That smile is still plastered to Yuuri’s face when they pull away, Viktor mirroring him.

“I love you. Thank you, Viktor,” Yuuri whispers in their shared space.

“Anything for you,” Viktor lightly kisses Yuuri’s nose, causing a giggle from the boy. At that moment, Minako walks up.

“Okay boys, we love the PDA, but Yuuri, you’ve got about five minutes until you’re up.”

Yuuri turns to Minako, cheeks red as her dress, before nodding. 

“Yes, Minako-sensei. I’m coming,” Minako smiles at Yuuri and Viktor before walking back to the side of the stage. Viktor giggles and kisses Yuuri’s cheek as Yuuri sighs.

“Come on, we gotta go! Stop distracting me!” Yuuri giggles again and takes Viktor’s hand, leading him to the backstage area where Phichit, Leo, and Ji are already getting set up for their next song. A worker walks up to Yuuri, double checking everything was ready to go for the set. Yuuri nods at them before walking over to the rest of his band.

“We ready for today guys?” Yuuri asks with a huge smile.

“Absolutely!” Leo exclaims, “This is one of my favorite songs!”

Yuuri smiles wide at Leo’s enthusiasm, using it to slightly quell his nerves, “Great! I do have some talking I need to do before we start up, okay?”

The boys all look at Yuuri with confused expressions but Phichit is the one to voice the confusion. “What are you gonna be talking about?”

Yuuri looks over to Viktor, who is chatting with one of the competition workers, with a soft smile. “The meaning of the song.”

“Wait, really? We finally get to know?” Ji immediately bounces in place, excited. Yuuri had never told anyone the meaning of this song, feeling almost stupid he wrote it about his crush. But now said crush is his boyfriend and Yuuri felt it was time.

“Yeah. I know I’ve kept the meaning from pretty much everyone for the longest time. I wanted to keep it to myself. But, now I’m finally ready.”

The boys all smile at him, understanding. Yuuri looks back to Viktor to see him walking over, putting an arm around Yuuri’s shoulder. Yuuri smiles up at Viktor and plants a small kiss onto his lips. One of the workers walks up to Yuuri after.

“Got about a minute - thirty till it’s you.”

Yuuri nods and smiles before looking at his band. “Ready to go?”

They all exclaim some sort of excited term but Yuuri doesn’t hear it. All he hears is Viktor, who has leaned down to whisper in Yuuri’s ear. 

“I love you. I’ll be waiting here for you.”

Yuuri turns and smiles at his boyfriend. He gives one final, lingering kiss before he heads to the edge of the stage to wait with his band to go on.

“What a killer set! Now, it’s time for our favorite newbies to come out today. Give it up for Katsudon!” Minako announces from stage, motioning for Yuuri and his band to come out.

Yuuri gives Minako a big smile before setting up at the microphone. He closes his eyes and takes a steadying breath before he begins to speak.

“Hey guys! I'm super excited for day two!” The crowd all cheer and whoop for Yuuri. He chuckles nervously before continuing. “Today, we’re performing a fan favorite, ‘ocean eyes’. But before we do, I wanted to tell you a bit of a story.

See, I’ve always loved music. Minako was actually the first to show me the piano. I’ve loved coming to live concerts and shows. The atmosphere was just so inviting and comforting for me. One day, my sister brought me to a concert of a band I’d never heard of before. The moment I saw them, I fell in love with the music. I downloaded all of their songs and albums and listened to them on repeat. I went to just about every concert or show they had. I also, may or may not have developed a bit of a crush on the lead singer. I left it alone because I never thought they would notice me, let alone like me back. But, they inspired this song,” the crowd and the rest of his band all collectively said “awe”. He laughed before continuing.

“That’s not everything. I continued to write my music and crush on them from afar. Then, when I signed up for Battle of the Bands this year, something incredible happened. This person noticed me and we grew close. Closer than I ever thought,” Yuuri looked over to Viktor, who was smiling softly. Viktor blew a kiss to Yuuri which made Yuuri smile bright before he took a deep breath and continued.

“Viktor Nikiforov is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I love him endlessly. He inspired this song before he even knew I existed and now he has given this song a whole new meaning. So, without any more delay, here’s ‘ocean eyes’.”

Phichit starts plucking the first notes of the song on his keyboard, a smile on his face. Yuuri begins to hum the melody, eyes closed. He opens his eyes to look over at Viktor, smiling before he starts singing.

_I've been watching you_

_For some time_

_Can't stop staring_

_At those oceans eyes_

_Burning cities_

_And napalm skies_

_Fifteen flares inside those ocean eyes_

_Your ocean eyes_

_No fair_

_You really know how to make me cry_

_When you gimme those ocean eyes_

_I'm scared_

_I've never fallen from quite this high_

_Falling into your ocean eyes_

_Those ocean eyes_

_No fair_

_You really know how to make me cry_

_When you gimme those ocean eyes_

_I'm scared_

_I've never fallen from quite this high_

_Falling into your ocean eyes_

_Those ocean eyes_

_I've been walking through_

_A world gone blind_

_Can't stop thinking of your diamond mind_

_Careful creature_

_Made friends with time_

_He left her lonely with a diamond mind_

_And those ocean eyes_

_No fair_

_You really know how to make me cry_

_When you gimme those ocean eyes_

_I'm scared_

_I've never fallen from quite this high_

_Falling into your ocean eyes_

_Those ocean eyes_

_No fair_

_You really know how to make me cry_

_When you gimme those ocean eyes_

_I'm scared_

_I've never fallen from quite this high_

_Falling into your ocean eyes_

_Those ocean eyes_

Yuuri let’s the microphone hang at his side after the song is over, hearing the crowd roar in applause and cheers. He looks over once again and sees tears falling down Viktor’s cheeks accompanied by a smile.

Minako walks out with a huge smile and stands next to Yuuri, putting an arm around him before speaking. 

“What a performance!” The crowd cheers in agreement. “Now, I would like to take this opportunity to allow Viktor to come on stage if he so pleases.”

Yuuri looks over and watches as Viktor walks onto the stage and immediately makes his way to Yuuri. Before Yuuri has a chance to say anything, Viktor is pressing close to him and kissing him for all he’s worth, right in front of the entire crowd. Yuuri’s eyes go wide in shock for a moment before he relaxes and kisses back, hand coming up to cup Viktor’s cheek. He vaguely hears the crowd go wild as he does, realizing this just verified their relationship to them. As soon as they pull away from each other, Viktor is smiling down at Yuuri.

“I love you so much,” Viktor sighs, “I can’t believe I get to be with someone as amazing as you.”

Yuuri can’t stop the blush that rises onto his cheek. “I love you, too Viktor.”

Minako interrupts their cute moment to speak, “Ah, true love from music. Is there anything better? Now, the judges have the scores for Katsudon’s performance today,” Minako leans down to take the paper from one of the judges, “And their score for today is,” she unfolds the paper open, “Twenty-six! Putting them back into first place! Now, that was the last of the bands for today! The current standings are Katsudon in first place, Ice Tiger in second and Ice Adolescence in third! What a battle! Tomorrow will determine our winner and who receives the title of best band in NYC! Now get out of here all of ya!” Minako laughs as everyone cheers one last time before they all begin to exit. 

Yuuri and Viktor walk off stage hand in hand as the rest of Katsudon begins to hound Yuuri with questions.

“Why the hell didn’t you ever tell us the song was about Viktor?” Phichit exclaims, laughing a bit.

“I just wanted to keep it to myself. Plus, it was way before I ever thought he would even notice me. I was worried I would get made fun of for it.”

“Dude, you have always been, like, madly in love with Viktor. It felt weird to us that you _hadn’t_ written a song about him. Guess we were wrong,” Leo joins in.

“Well, now you know I have. Now come on, I need something to eat. All these love confessions are making me hungry,” Yuuri laughs.

“Want me to call up Chris and my boys and Yuri and Otabek? Make it another top three outing?” Viktor asks next to Yuuri.

“Of course! They’re always invited. We could probably just pick up a few pizzas and go to your house? If you’re okay with that?” Yuuri turns to Viktor.

“Absolutely! Let’s do it!”

\-----------------------------

All of the boys were on the floor of Viktor’s living room, beers given to everyone, pizza boxes empty, and a half-assed game of Cards Against Humanity going. Viktor and Yuuri were cuddled together, sharing a hand. Leo was moving his cards around in his hand while Ji was asleep in his lap. Yuri and Otabek were laughing at each other’s choices, sitting awfully close together. Viktor just wished Yuri would finally get his shit together and say something to the Kazakh boy.

Phichit was on his phone next to Chris, showing him stupid videos from TikTok and Michele and Georgi were finishing off the last of the pizza. All in all, it was a good night and everyone was happy to be right where they were. Viktor smiled a bit, looking at the crowd of people sharing the room with him. He couldn’t believe his life brought him here of all places. After all the times he didn’t think he would make it, he was finally starting to feel true happiness. And it was nice.

Viktor was brought out of his thoughts by a kiss on his cheek from Yuuri. He looks over with a sort of dazed and dopey look, smiling.

“Yes, my love?”

Yuuri smiles back at Viktor, “You were zoned out. What were you thinking about?”

Viktor tightens his arms around Yuuri’s waist, nuzzling into his neck before taking a deep breath. “This. All of us. It feels like not that long ago, I didn’t think I would find anything like this and here I am. Living the kind of life I wanted. Happy.”

Yuuri sighs into Viktor’s hair and smiles, “I’m glad you’re happy. I’m happy, too.”

Viktor smiles and pulls away from Yuuri’s neck to place a kiss on his lips. He could have stayed there forever, kissing Yuuri. 

That’s when he was reminded of tomorrow’s song choice. “Adam’s Song”. It’s been so long since he’s played that song for a crowd and he had a lot of conflicting emotions about it. He was worried about how people would see him once he told the meaning of the song. He was relieved to finally sing it again and get it all off his chest. He was just scared. 

Scared of what, Viktor didn’t know. He just knew tomorrow was about to be one emotional day. He once again looked over to Yuuri and debated on telling him before tomorrow. He wanted to so badly. When Yuuri looked over to Viktor again, Viktor leaned down and kissed him softly.

“Hey, can we go to the room and talk? I wanna talk to you about something,” Viktor finally says.

Yuuri looks at him a little confused but nods. “Yeah, let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What does Viktor want to talk about?
> 
> We are almost done! 3 more chapters! I am currently writing chapter 11 (which may contain smut if i can do it well enough). i think ill just wait to post the last 3 chapters all together but we shall see how i am feeling. thanks again for reading!
> 
> Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5ucxq9e9XPAFpzBIJf2q1I?si=e0T-qD5pSV6WheaNvhuEGw  
> Apple Music Playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/battle-of-the-bands-yoi-band-au/pl.u-06oxDggFWEY3gyN


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